The End of My Life as I Know It
by dantesdarkqueen
Summary: Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident with her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story! Finally, the emergence of the real plot!
1. Welcome to Gaia

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **As of now, "Fallen Angels" is going on hiatus. No, I do know where I want the fic to go. However, I'm having serious issues getting there. It will be continued, but not at this present time. But this idea, as well as one involving Reno, just won't leave me alone. So, I hope you guys don't have too much of a prob with OCs. Because that's exactly what you're getting in this fic. Oh, and Kadaj's age has been jacked up to 18. Just because that's what I keep thinking of him as, ever since I first saw the movie.

Welcome to Gaia

Laura grimaced and held the phone away from her ear, as far as her arm could stretch, trying to listen to the irate bellowing issuing from the earpiece without deafening herself. "No, Mr. Harris... I know, Mr. Harris... It'll never happen again, you dickless bastard..." she muttered to herself, perfectly aware that her boss could not hear her over his own tirade.

The screams continued unabated, accusing her of robbing the company of its most promising young intern. Laura rolled her eyes, and patiently waited for her boss' voice to give out. When the volume decreased somewhat, she put the phone back to her ear.

"Mr. Harris, may I point out that _he _was the one sexually harassing _me_. The police report of his attempted assault, and the restraining order I filed against him, should provide all the proof you require concerning his intentions towards me. He did show promise in this line of work, that is true. But if he had not left the company, then one of your best commercial writers would have ended up, at the very least, the victim of a rape. Is that what you want?"

There was an irritated sigh on the other end of the line. "No, Kerrington, it is not. You know such a thing would have been a stain on the sterling reputation of this company. However, I do wish that you had come to me before going to the authorities. I could have solved your dispute with Thompson without usage of a restraining order."

Laura bit back the scathing retort dancing on the tip of her tongue. _I _did_ go to you, more than once. More like a dozen times..._

"Regardless, your actions have robbed the company of a talented young man who could have sold many products for our clients via his commercials. Therefore, you must be punished." There was the intake of breath. "Two weeks suspension with no pay. See you in two weeks, Kerrington." There was a _click _as the phone was hung up.

Laura sighed and put the phone back in its cradle. Two weeks' suspension without pay for protecting herself from a would-be rapist. Hooray for sexist money-lovers.

She crossed the kitchen to retrieve her sandwich and drink from the island, and went back to the sofa in the living room, stepping over her backpack as she did so. She had just gotten back from her yearly trip to the Adirondacks with her old friend from college, Denise, and had yet to unpack her things.

Somehow, it just didn't seem worth the effort at the moment.

She took a bite of her BLT and flipped the movie back to 'play,' trying to forget the phone call that had just made her day. Of all the movies in her collection, this one could probably do the trick: _Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children_. Denise had gotten her hooked on video games, Final Fantasy in particular, and 7 was her favorite of the series. She loved the storyline, the tragedy of the main characters. She also loved beating the shit out of the various critters she came across in AVALANCHE's travels.

Once she had found this movie, it had quickly become her absolute favorite. She empathized with the characters, especially the three Remnants, and so the movie always prodded an emotional response out of her.

Laura knew _exactly_ what it was like to be used and thrown aside by the one person you were supposed to be able to trust the most. She knew it all too well indeed...

Her gaze roamed across the expanse of her apartment, the paintings on the wall, the vases on the mantle above the fireplace, the tasteful furnishings she had purchased with her own hard-earned money. Money she had gained through talents her mother had labelled 'totally useless.'

Despite the horror that was her mother, Laura had done all right.

A peal of thunder boomed outside. Another storm was on its way.

Onscreen, Cloud was speeding across the plains of Midgar. Laura took another bite of her sandwich, eyes on the television. Her favorite characters were due to arrive soon.

The window lit up, illuminating the room like a miniature sun before abruptly fading away. A stinging spray of cold rain was blown through the open window behind the couch, making Laura shiver. _Damn. Forgot I left it open._ She got up and shut the window, then rubbed her bare arms. Her white tank top was definately _not _intended for warmth.

Yazoo and Loz were now chasing Cloud on their motorcycles, shooting and punching at him as opportunity allowed. On the cliffs above, Kadaj was talking to someone at Healin on his cell. Laura always suspected it to be Reno. Rude just...didn't shout.

Becoming completely engrossed in the movie, Laura didn't notice the sheer violence of the storm outside. Lightning was stabbing down from the sky at near-constant intervals, the crash of thunder providing a continuous tempo to the natural lightshow. Rain was pouring from the black clouds in buckets. And so, when a stray bolt of raw electicity struck the apartment complex, Laura was completely unprepared for the following blackout.

Cursing loudly, she got up to try and find some candles. That was a feat in and of itself, considering that she could hardly see her hand in front of her face. _Now where did I put the frigging candles? _

"Whoa!" Her foot hit the strap of her backpack, sending her tumbling to the floor with a painful _thud_. She glared in the general direction of the offending bag, then had a sudden thought. There was a flashlight in there somewhere.

Laura dragged the bag closer and began digging through the clothes, cds and player, and assorted camping gear. At last, her fingers came into contact with the desire object and closed about it, dragging it out and flicking it on.

The poweful beam of light pierced the darkness as easily as Cloud's Buster Sword would Loz's bike (damn blackout had interrupted her favorite part!) on the dvd, shedding light on the mysterious gloom that had become of her apartment.

_There_ were the candles! Laura got them out and produced a lighter, touching flame to various wicks and scattering the wax pillars throughout the room. That done, she collapsed back on the sofa and lifted her backpack onto the coffee table. Maybe she could listen to some music on her Discman. She started sifting through the contents once more...

And then ducked and yelled as her apartment exploded into light.

The brightness faded a moment later, and Laura uncovered her head, looking around with dazzled, blinded eyes. _What...the FUCK...was that?_

Lightning must have struck the fire escape or cable wire or something outside the window. It was the only explanation she could think of.

As the spots faded from her vision, Laura noticed that something was very strange in her apartment.

The television was on, but nothing else was.

She slowly stood up and walked around the coffee table, sitting down on it to stare at the television screen. The screen was a bright, flickering gray with black lines crawling across the glass; to Laura's bewilderment, they seemed to be moving in a pattern.

She leaned closer, fascinated by the almost...geometric shapes the lines were making, then jerked back as the screen flashed.

It flashed again, then again, more quickly.

Laura tilted her head, puzzled. Televisions weren't supposed to do that.

The screen was flashing almost every second now. The illumination was giving her a headache. Laura's fingers tightened on the strap of her backpack as she fought back a sudden wave of nausea. _I thought my migraines were over..._

Just as it flashed one more time, brighter than ever before, she closed her eyes.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"Hey! Hey, wake up!"

THere was a hand on her shoulder, shaking her roughly. The voice was deep and masculine, strangely familiar. It was this familiar tone that had brought her back to the waking world. Groaning softly, Laura raised a hand to massage her aching temples.

It was then that she realized something. Her surroundings were...wrong. There were stones beneath her back, digging into her spine. She could feel the warmth of sunlight on her skin, wind stirring her hair. How did she get outside? And furthermore, _where_ was she? She lived in the middle of New York City; there were no real, open, natural areas for _miles_. Central Park didn't count.

Dread a cold stone in the pit of her stomach, Laura opened her eyes.

There was a face silhouetted above her. Squinting, she could just barely make out a few key features. Spiky, slicked-back hair. Long sideburns.

Glowing green eyes with slitted pupils.

A soft gasp filled her throat. She knew that face.

Loz, from _Advent Children_.

Scrambling, she managed to roll away from him and get up on her feet, ready to defend herself if necessary (the only good thing Valerie Kerrington had ever done for her daughter, to enroll her in ju-jitsu classes). She knew full well what he was capable of.

_This can't be happening. He can't be Loz... It's not possible!_

Loz stood up and approached her, the same slow grace she had admired in the movie. In his right hand was her backpack, and his expression was surprisingly friendly. Laura watched the play of his muscles beneath the leather bodysuit, the way the sunlight gleamed off his Dualhound. Her dreams, her imagination, had _never_ been this good. There was no way it could be real, but there was also no way it was anything else.

_What the hell is going on? Am I really on Gaia? _

"You dropped this." He offered the backpack, the gesture completely non-threatening. Laura took it from him, clutching it to her chest like a teddy bear. "Who are you? Where are you from?"

There was no harm in telling him, was there? Besides, if she told the truth, maybe she could get some answers. "Laura Kerrington. I'm from New York City."

Loz looked confused. "Where is that?"

"New York state." She wanted to laugh at the baffled expression on his face, but shock wouldn't let her. _He really doesn't know... He's never heard of New York before..._

_Then that must mean..._

"You aren't from around here, are you."

The statement surprised her. She had never, ever believed Loz was all that intelligent. He just seemed like a big meathead in the movie, heavy on the brawn but sadly lacking in the brains department. "No. No, I'm not."

He made a _hmmm_ sound and started walking back to his bike, which was parked only a few feet away. "Need a place to stay?"

"Yeah." She brushed off her jeans. Her white tank, alas, was beyond saving until the next washing. "But would your brothers be okay with you bringing a girl home with you?"

Loz rounded on her, eyes wide and stunned. "How do you know about my brothers?"

She didn't answer, knowing she had made a mistake.

"Tell me!" He raised the arm with the Dualhound, the handle flipping into his ready hand. A threat if she'd ever seen one.

Laura slowly dropped to one knee and began sifting through her backpack, searching for something to prove that she meant them no harm. She kept her movements slow and deliberate, not wanting Loz to take anything as a precursor to an attack. She was a black-belt, but seriously doubted that she could take him. She knew what he had done to Tifa, after all (or would? What time was this, anyway? If he was still alive, then the Reunion hadn't happened yet, right?), and knew she didn't want to be on the recieving end of an assault like that.

After a tense moment, she found what she was looking for and dragged it out to show him.

The _Advent Children _movie soundtrack.

Loz examined it, then handed back to her wordlessly. She noticed that his hand was shaking slightly. _Did I scare him?_

"Stay there," he commanded, reaching for his cell phone. Laura made herself comfortable on the ground while he punched in a number.

"Yeah, I know you said not to call until I got there, but I've met someone." Apparently whoever was on the other line said something indecent, for Loz's cheeks turned a bright pink and he looked away from the woman on the ground. She smothered a laugh when she noticed the look on his face. _Is he really blushing?_ "No, not like _that!_ There was this woman on the plains, and well... Look, can I just bring her to you?" He looked at her as he spoke into the phone, then at the cd case in her hand. "She might know something about Mother and Brother. She's not from our world."

He nodded after a moment. "Okay. I'll bring her then." He put the phone away and looked at Laura. "Since you seem to know about Kadaj and Yazoo, would you like to meet them?"

Laura felt a shiver of apprehension tingle along her spine as she nodded silently.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

The landscape whizzed by at impressive speeds, far too quickly for Laura to take anything in. She clung to Loz and moved closer to him, a little afraid that she would fall off the back of the bike. He was a capable driver, but the sheer speed at which they were traveling worried her a bit.

_How did I get here?_

The last thing she remembered was the televison flashing really, really bright. Was it possible that the lightning strike had allowed for dimensional rift, transporting her into the world of the dvd, the world of Final Fantasy VII?

_Damn. Sounds like something off the Sci-fi Channel._

Now that she was here, how was she supposed to get home? And while she was here, she mused, was there any way she could prevent the events of the movie? Stop Kadaj from becoming Sephiroth, stop Yazoo and Loz from committing suicide?

Stop the youngest Remnant from dying?

There had to be a way. She hated that he would be used like that, then thrown away like a piece of garbage. She'd save him, save all three of them, from that if she could.

_But how? _


	2. Damn, He's Good!

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **Just a word of warning. Kadaj will be a little OOC in this chapter, due to the fact that he strikes me as the type of guy willing to use his sexuality to get what he wants. Don't get me wrong, I think he's awesome. But for some reason he just gives off that vibe. Oh, and yes I know, I do have a rather odd way of looking at the Remnants' explanation of what they are.

Damn, He's Good!

The Sleeping Forest was even more hauntingly beautiful in reality than it was in the movie. Ghost-pale trees stretching beseechingly towards the star-studded velvet of the night sky, glowing with alien luminescence... Laura couldn't stop twisting around, trying to take in everything and burn it into her memory. Loz actually slowed down a bit so she would have time to look around.

"It's perfect..." she murmured. "The movie did not do this place justice."

With his amplified sense of hearing, Loz picked up her comment over the roar of the bike.

And he wondered.

All too soon, they pulled up outside the Forgotten City. Laura slid off the bike and hitched her backpack higher on her shoulders, looking around somewhat nervously while the Remnant parked his vehicle next to two identical bikes. Soon she would meet Kadaj and Yazoo, her favorite and least favorite, respectively, of the SHM.

She was both terrified and very, very excited.

Any fan of the movie would know what they were capable of, would know what they had done to Tseng and Elena. Any fan of the movie would know how dangerous the three Remnants were, especially their leader. Any fan would have run screaming to Edge by now, seeking Cloud or Tifa or even Vincent for protection.

Laura made herself follow Loz into the city. She was no ordinary fan.

"They're in there." He gestured to the biggest of the ghostly buildings. "Go on."

She hesitated, looking at him with cautious eyes. "How much pain should I be expecting?"

Her answer came in the form of another recognizable voice, higher and thinner than Loz's, but less smooth than Yazoo's. "That depends on how much you cooperate with us."

Laura held back a moment longer, then entered the building, acutely aware of Loz's muscular presence behind her. _He's preventing me from escaping. As if I want to. I want to help them. _

Following a short hallway led her to a room with cushions and chairs scattered around, a globe of bluish luminescence splashing its otherworldly light across the walls and floor. Laura entered the room with outward confidence and looked around. There were a lot more shadows in here than she would have suspected.

Two of the chairs were occupied, although the faces of those within them were obscured. The nearer of the two was sprawled lazily in his chair, hands folded upon his slim belly, long silver tresses spilling across his chest in a metallic waterfall. Like Loz's, his mako-green eyes were glowing softly, their gaze steady upon her. _That would be Yazoo. _

Across the room, another figure was sitting in an armchair. One leg was slung carelessly across the right arm, and his head was propped up on one arm, chin in hand. She couldn't see the tell-tale eyes, but the woman knew exactly who the final person had to be.

_Kadaj._

She stepped further into the room, one hand wrapped securely around the left strap of her backpack. Behind her, Loz took up a position against the doorframe. Blocking her escape.

"What's your name, human?" Kadaj's voice again. The most she could see of his head consisted of his chin and mouth.

She fought the urge to lick her lips, a dead giveaway that she was nervous. "Laura Kerrington."

"Do you know who we are, Laura?"

_Here goes nothing. _"Yes. The one who brought me here is Loz. The one with the long hair is Yazoo. You are Kadaj, the leader. All of you are Remnants of Sephiroth who came into existence after his defeat at the hands of Cloud Strife two years ago."

She heard Loz and Yazoo shift uneasily, but Kadaj gave no reaction. "You are correct, for the most part. We call ourselves Remnants, but the truth is..." His eyes snapped open, their sudden appearance forcing her to look straight into their yellow-green depths. "That we are his clones. Grown from DNA samples taken from Sephiroth himself, then raised by Professor Hojo, among other scientists, below Shinra Manor. All of us, including the ones that did not survive, were raised differently from Sephiroth, although we were made with his genetic code. So while we are clones, we are also our own persons. We carry pieces of him within our bodies. Thus, we are Remnants, parts of him that were left behind when he died, that continue to survive separate of his body."

Laura nodded silently. _It makes sense. _And then another thought struck her.

_They're not going to let me go, now that he's told me all this. They won't take the chance that I'd tell someone._

"Our existence was kept a secret from all but the Class A scientists. Most records of our creation, maintanence, and the 'experiments' performed on us were lost during the fires that provided our means of escape. This leads me to question..." Kadaj stood up and approached her; despite his size, he was extremely intimidating. _He has got to be at least three inches shorter than me!_

Coming to a stop a few inches away from her, seriously violating her personal space, he put his hands on his hips and glared up at her. "How do you know so much about us?"

Laura tried to think of a way to dance around the answer, but decided honesty was the best policy in this case. _Less pain means more gain, right? Or something like that. _"Would you believe me if I told you that there is a movie back on my world called _Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children_, and that you and your brothers are central figures in the storyline?"

That threw him for a loop. Kadaj stared at her, utterly aghast. Yazoo looked similarly shocked, but it was not quite as obvious on his serene countenance. She wasn't sure what Loz's reaction was. "Do you have any proof?"

"I've seen some. That's why I called you," Loz interjected from his position in the door.

"Can I show you?" Laura inquired. She sensed that Kadaj would be far more likely than his brother to murder her if she just started rooting through her bag, thinking that she was searching for a weapon.

He eyed her warily, then nodded. Laura slid the article off her shoulder and began rifling through it, locating the soundtrack and a small book of screenshots she had put together and taken to the Adirondacks with her to show Denise what her new printer could do. These were presented to Kadaj, who took them quickly, still watching her suspiciously. Laura kept her expression friendly, worried that he would think she was trying to decieve him. For her, that would mean instant death.

He examined the cd case, flipping it open to take out the booklet and look through it, then leafed through the pages of her book. She surreptitiously watched his face for any sign of surprise or disbelief. Any emotion, really.

The most she noticed was a slight pallor that enveloped his features as he raised his head from a picture of himself fighting with Cloud. "None of this has happened. I've never even met Brother."

"But you will."

Kadaj watched her through hooded eyes, and she stared right back, directly into his pupils. A challenge crackled between them, one striving to command, the other to defy.

_I'm not afraid of you. _

"If you are not from this planet, then where did you come from?" The silken voice slipped through the electrified space between them, weaving its way into her brain and drawing her gaze to the quietest Remnant, who was playing with a tendril of his hair. "Surely you did not just 'appear' from out of nowhere."

"Your assessment is correct. I don't know exactly how I got here, although I do have my suspicions. But I am from another planet called Earth, where your planet only exists in the realms of entertainment. Video games and movies, that is. You three are the main antagonists of my favorite movie."

Yazoo made a _hmm_ noise, and nodded slowly; she could tell by the movement of his eyes. Then her attention was drawn back to the youngest brother as he circled behind her, strangely reminiscent of a panther on the hunt. Kadaj leaned in close to her, his breath hot upon her ear and neck. Laura felt a sudden thrill of unexpected arousal snake through her body, and strongly suspected that he knew she felt it. _Down, girl! No jumping on the most gorgeous man in the movie!_

"If you know what happens, surely you know the location of our Mother," he purred, his gloved hands skating along the bare flesh of her arms and shoulders.

_Oh my God... I had no idea he could be this seductive!_ "Sort of."

"What do you mean by that?" he breathed, raising his hand to her neck, his thumb rubbing the sensative spot behind her ear. She only just managed to fight down the urge to shiver at that action.

"I know where she _will _be. Prior to that, I am unsure."

To her relief, he didn't catch the lie. "Where will she be?"

Laura hesitated, then gasped softly as his teeth grazed her jugular. She had always enjoyed a little pain with her pleasure, up to a point. "Shi... Shinra will have her."

"For more experiments?" She felt his body tense as he asked that.

"I don't know. All I know is..." She let her head fall back against his shoulder as one hand slid around her torso to cup her breast. _Damn, he's good..._ "Shinra will launch an investigation into the events of Sephiroth's demise. And at some point, the Turks will find Jenova's head."

"One more question." Kadaj pressed closer to her, and Laura relaxed against him. _Never would have guessed he'd be so warm._ "Why are you telling us so much willingly, if you already know what we're planning?"

She closed her eyes, then rolled her head so she could look at him, meet his gaze. "Because I want to help you."

"That's what I thought." Turning her head a bit more, Kadaj claimed her lips, devouring her mouth in a hot, hungry kiss. Laura responded, but her mind was spinning.

_Oh...my...fucking...gawd! Kadaj is _kissing_ me? And he's _good_ at it! Oh my God..._

All too soon he pulled away, and returned to his seat. "Loz, take our guest up to the empty room near Yazoo's. She's staying with us, at least until we find Mother. Oh, and Laura?"

"Yeah?" She was trying to remember how to think.

"Don't even think about escaping."

_Wouldn't dream of it, _she thought as she followed the burly fighter on wobbly legs.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"This is your room." Loz opened the door and stood aside, allowing Laura to enter the room. She looked around at the pearly walls and ash-gray furnishings, the surroundings lit predictably by another of the blue orbs. As before, there was an overabundance of shadows crawling across the walls and floor. _Looks a lot like Frodo's room in _Fellowship of the Ring_. Looks like the Cetra had very sophisticated tastes indeed. _She turned back to the man in the doorway.

"It's lovely. Thank you."

He nodded. "Are you going to stay here, or do I have to lock the door?"

The question was not unexpected. After all, they had no reason to trust her. Yet. "I won't run. I have nowhere else to go, and you would catch me before I made it very far anyway. It would be pointless to try."

"Nice to see that you've got a brain." He shifted awkwardly, then turned to go. "Sleep well."

_Yeah, I'll do that. _Once he was gone, Laura changed into another tank top, this one made of black fabric with a heart and wings design she had bought at the Hard Rock Cafe. More comfortable now, she undid the tie in her hair, letting her dark brown mane spill across her shoulders like a rolling wave. Digging through her backpack, she pulled out her hairbrush and started working it through her hair, mulling over Kadaj's actions downstairs.

_He couldn't possibly be attracted to me. He must have been using his looks, his sex appeal, to make me talk. _

_But... Why didn't he torture me like he will Tseng and Elena? Wouldn't he have enjoyed that more?_

_Unless..._

_But he just met me! _

It had been another form of torture, a more subtle brand than that which the Turks were doomed to experience. He had teased the information out of her, playing her as a pianist would a baby grand. And the finesse with which he had pulled it off suggested that it was not the first time he had gained information via his sex appeal.

Which meant that it had meant nothing to him. He was just using her to help him locate Jenova.

But upon thinking back, she realized that something didn't mesh with that conclusion.

There had been a definate bulge back there. An unmistakable one.

_Is it possible that...?_

There was a mirror above the dresser. She stood and crossed to it, gazing at her reflection in the silvery surface. Laura had always been an attractive woman, naturally blessed with a figure most women would kill for, combined with enormous blue eyes and shoulder-length brown hair. She had earrings and a few cartilage piercings, small silver hoops that she kept despite her boss' hatred of them. There was a scar on her left brow and multiple white lines crisscrossing her arms, all battle scars from the night when her loving mother had come at her with a butcher knife, but nothing that really took away from her appearance. In fact, most people who saw the scars were under the impression that she was a badass from the wrong side of the tracks, dangerous to mess with.

_They have no idea... Not even Denise knows..._

She turned around and lifted the back of her shirt, looking at the tattoo gracing the small of her back. It was a sharp-edged tribal design, done solely in thick black ink. A momento of the insanity that had been her teenage years.

_What could he possibly see in me that would attract the attention of his 'little friend' that fast? I thought he lived only for Jenova..._

Putting the thought out of her head, Laura went back to the bed and pulled out her Discman, searching through her cds for something that suited her mood. She and Denise had hosted a dance party, more of a mosh, really, at their cabin in the Adirondacks; most of her cds and some spare batteries were nestled in the bottom of the bulky bag.

_Let's see here... HIM? Evanescence? My Chemical Romance? Cascada? Wait a sec, how'd that get in here? Metallica? Def Leppard? No..._

_Here we go. This'll work._

She put in Seether's _Karma and Effect_ cd in and shut the case, laying back on the bed as the music filled her ears. The music, oddly melodic and soothing despite the heavy guitars, eventually lulled her to sleep.

And so she was unaware when Kadaj entered her room to gaze upon her with an unreadable expression. She merely stirred lightly when he removed the blaring headphones from her ears and brushed some hair away from her face.

But the touch reached her even through the mire of her dreams.


	3. Dreams of the Trip

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **Back to the regularly-scheduled fic at hand. I think I'm going to be tag-teaming between this fic, my DMC fics, and "I Knew Him Before" until some more of them are done. But don't expect me to update too often. My computer, for some reason, decided to axe my Internet connection over spring break. So I have to use the school computers to do all my typing. This, as one might expect, completely sucks ass. I mean, I can't access my Youtube songs on my AOL Favorites list! Or all the fics I have saved to that instead of my Favorites List here on the site! So yeah, my life sucks at the moment. Just warning you before people start telling me I'm not updating fast enough. And please, don't take offense at this chapter. I did do some research, and was privileged (or not…) to have seen some people smoking angel dust before. They sounded exactly like Laura and her friends do here.

Dreams of the Trip

_"Here, Lor. Try this shit. 's real good." Laura took the proffered PCP cigarette and took a long, long drag from it, blowing out the smoke in a slow, curling stream. After handing it back to Constanza, she leaned back against the peeling wall and waited for the trip to overtake her. Watching the faces of her friends and fellow addicts swirl around her like an insane merry-go-round, she felt a euphoric smile grow across her face. _

_"'s good shit, Mandy. Where'd ja find it?" she slurred. The colors were so pretty! _

_"My brother'z room. 's got more angel dust than he knowz what ta do with." The petite brunette rolled her head back on its shoulders, running her hands up and down the naked skin of her arms. "Skin feelz reeeaaal funny right now." _

_"Thaz angel duzt, baby." Andy rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling. "Man, what a trip. Pot an' China white can' compare to thiz!"_

_"An we ain't even tried mainlining thiz stuff!" Joseph laughed. _

_"You crazy, Joe. My brother don't even mainline hiz angel duzt. Thatz craaazzzyyy, dude." _

_The friends sat around the room, passing their PCP cigarettes around and allowing the trip to overtake them in long, slow waves of bliss. Laura pondered the swirling rainbow that colored the walls and ceiling, the strange, smeary Picasso painting that had been her friends. _Shit'z sooo gooooddd… Wonder what it'd be like if we hadn' waited to try it, if we'da had it with the hard stuff…

_"Dude, thatz ma girlfriend!" _

_Laura looked over in the general direction of the voices, and saw that Richard was getting up from his space in the corner, an enraged look on his face. Squinting, she realized that Joseph had his arm around Constanza. _Juz flirtin' with 'er, as usual.

_But Richard didn't seem to think this was Joseph's usual playful teasing. He stood above them with fists clenched, teeth bared in an animalistic snarl. "Get yur mother-fuckin' handz off ma girl, bitch." _

_"Richard, whuz wrong with you?" The Spanish beauty smiled up at her steaming boyfriend, her dark eyes playful and teasing. "Joseph'z jus' playin', thatz all."_

_"He ain' playin' with you no more." Richard lunged for Joseph, pinning him to the floor and pounding away at him. Blood flew with each punch, but Laura and the others were too fascinated by the crimson sparkle of the macabre rain to help him. Constanza tried to break up the fight, and suddenly Richard turned his attention to her. While he beat on her, Joseph got up and attacked the murderous teen, punching him with almost inhuman strength. Suddenly all three of them were at it, fighting and screaming like wild animals, gutteral snarls punctuating each successful hit. _

_And none of the other drugged-out teenagers, friends to all three, would do anything about it. They just sat there and let the sights and sensations of their euphoria wash over them while their friends beat the shit out of each other. Laura even grinned while Richard smashed Joseph's head nearly through the concrete wall, blood and brains splattering out from their protective dome to paint the walls in gory perfection. _

_When they all finally came down from their trip to the clouds, they discovered that Joseph was dead. _

_And Laura screamed when she realized what her drug habits had done. _

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"Hey, wake up! Wake up, Laura, wake up!"

Laura heard someone calling her name and curled away from it, whimpering softly. _It hurts…So bad…So sorry...Just let me die…_

"You're going to wake up Yazoo with all the noise you're making. So wake _up!_" Someone shoved her hard, and Laura opened her eyes just in time to see the floor rushing up to meet her.

"Oooff!" Landing on her stomach forced all the air in her lungs out of her body, and she had to lay on the floor gasping for a moment before regaining control over her disobedient limbs. That done, she rolled over and sat up, looking at the malevolent creature that had so rudely shocked her from sleep.

Kadaj was kneeling on her bed, his silver fringe doing little to conceal the emerald glow of his intense stare. He offered her a hand. "You were having a nightmare, and screaming in your sleep. If I hadn't woken you up, Yazoo would have come in here. Believe me, he is an absolute bastard when he doesn't get his beauty sleep."

Laura considered allowing him to help her up, then weighed it against the needs of her dignity as an empowered, modern woman. The longer she looked at his ungloved hand – _so he _does_ wear something other than that leather one-piece! At least to sleep in, anyway – _the narrower his eyes became. _Screw dignity. _She placed her hand in his, and he effortlessly pulled her back on the bed. _Damn, he's stronger than he looks!_

She settled back onto the bed, then looked at Kadaj again. _Looks really cute in an oversized t-shirt and sleep pants. _"Thank you," she said quietly.

He nodded, then spoke up. "What's heroin?"

Laura stiffened, instinctively hiding her right arm so he couldn't see the milky trails that long-term drug use had made of her veins. "Why do you ask?"

"It's one of the things you were yelling about before I woke you up. So what is it?"

She turned her head, unwilling to answer the question. How was she supposed to explain to Kadaj, who had obviously never heard of such a drug before, the ecstasy and agony that had been her addiction to heroin? How could she describe the sheer _need_ of feeling the forbidden fluid flowing into her veins and stealing away all the cares and worries of her life, of experiencing the escape it provided? How could she talk about the heartache that had resulted from experimenting with other types of narcotics, other ways of getting them into their systems, and watching her friends slowly deteriorate and die from their addiction to Chinese white, laying in hospital beds or on the side of the road, pleading and screaming for their liquid salvation even while their organs shut down and their bodies were wracked with painful consequences?

Laura slowly shook her head. She couldn't.

Kadaj crawled around to sit in front of her, and applied gentle pressure to her chin with his fingers until her eyes met his. He searched her face for a moment, taking his time before speaking.

"You said that you want to help us. My brothers and I have decided to accept your offer instead of killing you, because we believe you are trust-worthy as well as useful. We could always beat any information out of you, after all."

The woman shivered. She was tough, as any kid from a rough neighborhood would be. But she wasn't Turk-tough.

"But we won't. There's something about you that just makes me want to trust you." He stroked some wayward hair away from her face, the gesture surprisingly soft and gentle. "But I can't trust you if you keep secrets from me. Understand?"

She nodded. _He'll hate me when he finds out what I did, just like everybody else…_

"Good. Now, what is heroin?"

_Cross fingers, knock on wood._ Laura took a deep breath, then launched into her story.


	4. Speak of the Devil

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **Yeah, it looks intimidating. Trust me, the chapter picks up after a bit. My reasoning on this chapter is this: Kadaj won't trust her unless she proves that she is willing to tell him everything, and not keep secrets from him. So we learn a lot about Laura as she tells him about her past in order to gain his trust, and then a bit about Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz's early hell. Don't worry; I haven't totally lost my head. The story will pick up, but you have to bear with me first. And please, for god's sake, leave me a review! Laura isn't a squeaky-clean OC, but she's also not really all that special. There are people just like her living all over the world; tell me if you like this or hate this about her!

Speak of the Devil

"I was never planned for. My mother slept with whoever she wanted, uncaring of the consequences or her safety. To this day, I can't figure out how she hasn't caught a disease yet. I was the only baby she failed to get rid of before birth, and after I was born, her parents began sending money for my care. She kept me alive and around because I was her meal ticket and her slave, nothing more than that. I have no idea who my father was; he could be any of my mother's one-night stands, and she had a new one almost every night. I grew up hiding from Mom when she was drunk or angry, and running wild around the neighborhood the rest of the time. When you live in the one of the worst parts of New York City, you have to learn some kind of self-defense, unless you enjoy getting mugged or raped or whatever on a regular basis. The only good thing my mother ever did for me was to enroll me in ju-jitsu classes. Anything else she ever did always involved physical or verbal abuse. See these scars?" Laura raised her hands, showing Kadaj the scars criss-crossing the smooth skin. "They are from a night when Mom got drunk and attacked me with a knife. I was only nine years old, and if I hadn't climbed out on to the fire escape, she would have killed me, and not felt the least bit sorry." She parted her hair, displaying another scar hiding on the right side of her head. "This one was from a night when she smashed a beer bottle over my head, accusing me of going through her purse." Laura looked at her hands, suddenly ashamed to face the silver-haired man sitting across from her. _Tell him everything, Laura. It's the only way to gain his trust._ "And those were only two incidents. There were countless others, not to mention all the times she screamed things at me, beating me verbally rather than physically. My childhood was never a happy one. I used to beg the teachers to give me work around the school so I wouldn't have to go home.

"All I wanted, ultimately, was out. I was willing to accept any escape for a few hours of peace, away from the hell-hole I called home. So I was an easy target for that which way too many people fall victim to."

"And what was that?" Kadaj asked. There was no playfulness in the question, no condescension. Merely unreadable seriousness.

"Drugs."

She ran a hand through her hair, taking down the pony-tail and letting the dark brown locks tumble about her shoulders. "I was thirteen when my neighbor, Joseph, asked me out. Mom gave me the usual tongue-lashing, forbidding me to go out because I had things to do around the apartment that she had delegated to me, but I still snuck out to meet him. We did all the usual things; saw a movie, went to dinner. Normal 'date' things. After that, I thought he was going to take me home. But instead, he drove me behind this abandoned warehouse complex and told me to follow him. And he was so serious, completely different from the usual joking, teasing guy I knew, that I never questioned him. Just followed him through the warehouses and never said a word.

"It turned out that he was taking me to this abandoned building where he got his daily fix. He introduced me to his fellow junkies, then tied off his arm and slipped a needle in. Heroin, you see, is an illegal drug that gives you this high, blissful feeling before sending you into this painful, messy spin. Seriously addictive, downright lethal over time, and nearly impossible to break yourself of once you've gotten addicted. Joseph convinced me to try a dose, and I loved how free it made me feel, even though I got sick afterwards." Laura unconsciously rubbed her arm, almost trying to erase the reminder of her dark past. "Every night, after I got back from school, I'd sneak out to that building with Joseph and shoot up, always mainlining. We liked to get the drug's effects as soon as possible, and mainlining was the quickest way to get it. Everybody had their reasons for going, but it was my escape from hell. I knew the dangers, had heard all the stories of people dying from long-term use, but I just didn't care. How could death be any worse than my life already was?

"Heroin does not come cheap. I took what I could from Mom, but that wasn't enough. So I started stealing to get money for my fix. Swiping pieces of cars from chop-shops and selling them, pick-pocketing, smash-n-grabs, the occasional mugging… Just petty, stupid crimes like that. I wasn't proud of my activities, or the fact that I never got caught. But I needed the heroin. It… It hurts when you don't have it in you. It literally _hurts_. Every vein, every bone, every fiber of your being feels like it's on fire, and only when you have freshly-injected China white running through you does the pain fade. When you're suffering that much, in addition to the usual abuse from your parents, you'll do anything to make it stop, if only for a little while. _Anything._"

Laura closed her eyes, head falling lower beneath the weight of Kadaj's silent stare. _Is he judging me? How could he not? I certainly deserve it._ "I stayed on heroin until I was seventeen. By then, we had started experimenting with other illegal narcotics. Pot, crack, morphine, crystal meth, LSD, and a few others. We tried all the usual ways to get them in our bodies, too. Bongs, coke lines, needles, cubes… you name it, we tried it. It was a real crazy night the time we tried chasing the dragon instead of mainlining. But then Mandy, one of the long-timers Joseph had introduced me to, got her hands on some angel dust. PCP. So we tried that, and…" She closed her eyes again, remembering the surreal horror that had been that Richard, Joseph, and Constanza's fight. "Angel dust is a double-edged sword, just like any drug. It makes you super strong, almost impervious to pain, and nearly unstoppable if you get mad. But it comes with a price. Hallucinations, both visual and auditory. Plus, the user can become either catatonic or extremely violent, almost animalistic. I've even heard horror stories of users attacking other people after taking PCP. One circulating around my neighborhood periodically claims that this girl killed her boyfriend after trying angel dust for the first time, and then ate his liver and intestines."

"Is that what happened?" Kadaj finally asked, breaking her chain of thought. "Did one of you eat one of the others after taking this angel dust?"

"No." Laura took a deep breath, desperately needing support to continue the story. Before she could think twice about it, she reached out and grabbed one of Kadaj's hands, holding tightly to him as if he were an anchor to reality, to sanity. He resisted a little at first, but then calmed and merely held her hand. His skin was warm and surprisingly soft against her palm. _Probably because of the gloves. Wonder if all that leather had a similar effect on the rest of his body? No Laura! Bad!_

She licked her lips, trying to put her scattered memories of that awful night into some kind of reasonable order. "At first, everything was cool. We just enjoyed the trip it gave us, this wonderful euphoria that no other drug, not even heroin, had ever given us. We'd already had our heroin fix for the day, and figured it had been long enough that we'd be okay with the angel dust. We were damn lucky that mix of drugs didn't kill us. In any case, nothing happened until Joseph tried to put the moves on Constanza, this Spanish chick Richard was dating. They got into a fight, and when Constanza tried to break it up, the aggressive part of the drug hit her too. It became this bloody three-way fight, and none of us tried to stop them. We were all nearly comatose with the trip, and even though they were killing each other, we just didn't move. None of us even flinched when Richard slammed Joseph's head into the wall.

"When we finally came out of it, Joseph was dead, Constanza was badly injured, and Richard had a broken arm and a dislocated shoulder. I can vividly remember just kneeling beside his body, staring at him, and feeling so guilty that I had done nothing while he died. Joseph was the one who got me addicted in the first place, but he was also my only real friend, a really great guy I hung around with and trusted. And because of these drugs, he was dead." Laura felt the tears dripping, falling to splash against her arm. "That was the day I swore I'd turn my life around, to get clean and make something of myself. By now, I've accomplished just that. I've got a good home, a well-paying job I enjoy, friends that do more than just shoot up, and a life I can be proud of.

"So to answer your question… Heroin is the drug that almost destroyed me."

She waited for him to say something, anything. An explosion, a condemnation, an expression of disbelief… Laura half-expected Souba to come slashing at her throat after her confession of thievery.

What she was _not_ expecting was for Kadaj to throw his arms around her hand bury his head against her neck. Confused, she put her arms around him and stroked his back and hair, bewildered as to why Kadaj, the cold-blooded leader of the SHM, fanatical killer and heartless son of Jenova, would be holding her like this. As if she was a teddy bear and he a mere child.

"Do you know?" His voice was muffled, but the sorrow was still clearly audible. "Do you know how many of my brothers and sisters went through the same damn thing? Yazoo, Loz, and I all got addicted to the drugs Hojo and his scientists had pumping into us every single day. And when we misbehaved, they upped the dosages, practically killing us before administering the appropriate materia. Some of the others died when they had to go cold-chocobo without them. For weeks after escaping, all three of us were really, really sick. There were times when we really thought we were going to die, it hurt so bad… I remember waking up in the middle of the night because my heart was racing in my chest and I was dripping with sweat, my skin on absolute fire and my blood like daggers in my veins. I can remember several times when I wished we were back in the labs, where we could get the drugs and stop this pain…"

"But you got better. You're clean now." Laura leaned her head against his, fingers still softly stroking along his neck and upper back. "You're free."

"No, I'm not." He rolled his head slightly, nestling more comfortably against her shoulder. There was such anguish in his voice, it nearly broke her heart to hear him. "I'm free from the drugs, but I'm not free from _him_."

Understanding hit like a bolt of lightning. "Sephiroth?"

"Yeah."

"You can't get free of him because you are his clone. His Remnant." No judgment in her tone. Only soft empathy, putting the truth that haunted him into the open air where it could not hide.

"He's there, always." There was a hot warmth soaking into her skin. _He's crying…_ "Just beyond my reach. I've tried to get him out of my system, but…"

"He's a part of you. And you can't get rid of him, no more than you can get rid of yourself."

"There's no rehabilitation, no help or healing, for a clone."

"I'm sorry."

They sat for long moments, Kadaj softly crying into her shoulder, and Laura holding him to her, offering comfort to a man who had none before.

_He's so young… He had to grow up so fast. I don't care what he's done, or what Jenova makes him do. He is worth saving. _

_Worth more than I ever was. _

Her fingers tightened, almost possessively, against his flesh.

_Jenova…_

_Sephiroth…_

_You won't get your claws into him. I swear it. _


	5. Disney Has Its Uses

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away. Oh, I also don't own the rights to the song in here. It just seemed like something that a person would sing to someone who needs comforting after a bad dream.

**Queen's Quornor: **Characters might be a little OOC in this chapter. I haven't decided yet. Yazoo doesn't have enough lines in the movie for me to be sure. Yes, he's a little talkative in this chapter, but I've reasoned that this is because he cares about his brother(s). Now before any of you still reading this decide to lynch me, I should tell you that in reviewing the movie I have come to a conclusion. I believe that Kadaj is a split personality. He has his original self, of whom we see very little in the film (up until the very end, that is, after he collapses), and then the part Jenova has driven to insanity. Sephiroth wasn't always the same man he is portrayed as in the game; why can't the same apply to Kadaj? Jenova is a corrupting influence, after all. In this story, that insane part hasn't really taken over yet, and the rational, original part is still in control, most of the time. So part of the reason he's been almost child-like in this chapter and the previous one is due to the conflict going on inside him, the war over which side will win. How many of us, after all, revert to a more emotional, I-need-you-to-be-there state when going through something that traumatic? Kadaj may not be human, but he is still human (yay for philosophy classes!). Oh, and for the one girl's name, it's the Latin pronunciation, "Keer-ee-eh."

Disney Has Its Uses

When Laura woke up the next morning, she was immediately conscious of a warm weight pressing against her ribcage and stomach. Lifting her head, she realized that Kadaj was sleeping atop her, his head pillowed against her breasts and his arms wrapped loosely around her waist. He looked so peaceful that she was loathe to disturb him, especially after his tearful admonission of the previous night. But the insistent pressure of her bladder demanded she do so.

"Kadaj?" She stroked his hair softly, trying to keep her voice low and gentle. "Kadaj, it's time to wake up."

"Mmmph."

_My, Kadaj. You really lose your eloquency in the mornings, don't you? 'Course, it'd probably help if you weren't talking into my left boob. _"What was that?"

"Don' wanna." He nuzzled against her, still asleep, reminding her absurdly of a tiny kitten.

"I 'don' wanna' either. However, I also 'don' wanna' make a puddle in the middle of this bed. That would be bad, don't you think?"

"Puddle nasty."

_Oh, so he's a baby talker when he's asleep, is he? Heh, Denise is the same way. I know how to deal with him, then._ "Kadaj, if you let me up to go to the bathroom, I'll be right back. Then we can go back to sleep, ok?"  
"M'kay." He rolled off her and curled onto his side, _still _fast asleep. Laura got out of the bed, careful not to bounce the mattress or make too much noise, and set off to find the bathroom.

She found it after a few minutes of searching, and took care of her needs. That done, she tied her hair back again and retraced her steps to the bedroom, hoping that Kadaj hadn't woken up yet. She rather liked him like this, all warm and soft and cuddly, almost as if he needed someone to take care of him.

_Strangely, the words 'cuddly' and 'Kadaj' sound really, really funny together!_

He was still asleep when she got back, but it was no longer a peaceful sleep. He was gripping the sheets with one white-knuckled fist, face grimacing in a mixture of pain and fear. Soft cries of distress were making their way from his tightly-curled form to echo around the room in a steady stream.

_Nightmare._

Laura was on the bed beside him a moment later, pulling him up into her arms and rubbing his back comfortingly, whispering soothing words to him while he struggled against her, desperate to get away from whatever was tormenting him within the depths of his mind. She ignored the fists beating against her chest as best she could and continued her endeavors, fighting not to hold him so tightly that he would be unable to move. That would only make the nightmare worse, if he felt like he was being held down.

After a few minutes of this, Kadaj quieted and lay limp against her, his legs curled around her waist and his arms held protectively against his abdomen. Laura felt him turn his head into the curve of her neck, and then hot moisture against her skin.

_Oh Kadaj… I'm so sorry…_

She wondered how she was going to comfort him, and then had a flash of inspiration. _Denise told me her mother always sang to her when she had had a bad dream._

But what song? Most of her favorite songs were hardly what could be considered soothing. Laura wracked her brains for a moment for something appropriate, then recalled a Disney song that had warmed her heart the first time she had heard it, while she was boredly channel-surfing one afternoon. _Thank God I've got a decent voice_.

Gently caressing his hair, still holding him close to her while he cried, Laura began to softly sing, even going so far as to rock him a little.

"Come stop your crying, it'll be all right. Just take my hand, hold it tight. I will protect you from all around you. I will be here, don't you cry."

There was movement in the doorway, and she raised her head to see Yazoo, silently watching them with unreadable eyes. Laura paid him no mind; her attention was on Kadaj, who had quieted somewhat.

"Feeling a bit more confident that it was working, she continued singing. "For one so small, you seem so strong. My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm. This bond between us can't be broken. I will be here, don't you cry. 'Cause you'll be in my heart. Yes, you'll be in my heart. From this day on, now and forever more. You'll be in my heart. No matter what they say. You'll be right here, in my heart, always." She turned so her lips were just centimeters away from his ear, eyes closed so she wouldn't see her observer while she whispered the final lyric.

"_Always._"

The tears, the shaking of his back and shoulders, had finally ceased. Laura leaned her head against Kadaj's, still stroking his back and hair, glad that it had worked. She didn't know what, specifically, had so terrified him, but she was thankful that she could help make it go away.

_I'd kill Hojo and the other scientists if I could, for putting him through shit like that. Look what it's done to him. _

When she finally raised her head, Yazoo was still in the doorway, watching them. Sensing that he had something he wanted to talk about, she reached a hand out and patted the bed, inviting him to come sit down. Kadaj stirred slightly in his sleep, and she quickly resumed her petting. He seemed to enjoy it, if not need it.

Yazoo whispered over to the bed and climbed atop it, his weight barely disturbing the mattress as he settled into a cross-legged position against the footboard. Like his brother, he had given up his usual leather garb in favor of loose cotton sleepwear. He watched them, the woman and his brother, for a long moment before speaking, his voice even softer than it normally was. "That's the first time he's ever allowed anybody other than me to make the nightmares go away. You should feel privileged to know that he trusts you."

"I said I wanted to help you. I don't want…certain things…to happen, that's all." Laura nuzzled Kadaj's silky-soft hair briefly, causing him to sigh in his sleep and cuddle more tightly against her.

"You think our pursuit of Mother is wrong."

The blunt statement made her look directly at the long-haired man, searching for hostility. His face was as expressionless as ever, smooth and unreadable.

_Dammit_.

"I know what will happen if you find her, if you get your hands on her head. I would prevent that from taking place, if I could."

"What will happen, if we were to find Mother?"

_Might as well tell him. I never paid attention to philosophy, anyway. _"All three of you will go mad, especially Kadaj. You will put innocent children in mortal danger, all of the kids suffering from Geostigma. Downtown Edge will nearly be destroyed, and when all is said and done, all three of you will be dead. Kadaj will be exposed to Jenova's cells and transform into Sephiroth, and he will battle Cloud Strife. Cloud will defeat him, but Kadaj's body will take the damage. Sephiroth's possession, as well as the wounds incurred in the battle, will kill him." Laura bit back tears, remembering that hated scene. "You and Loz will come upon the scene just as Kadaj is fading into the Lifestream, and shoot Cloud. He will attempt to kill you, and you both will activate all of the materia you have in your arms, resulting in an explosion that kills all three of you. But Cloud will get healed in the Lifestream, and be sent back to Gaia while you three remain…dead.

"I don't want Jenova to take over your minds, Yazoo. She is not you mother, nor was she Sephiroth's mother. I don't want her to drive you insane.

"I don't want the three of you to die."

She hugged Kadaj to her, hand still moving over his cotton-garbed back, waiting for Yazoo's reply. When it came, it was as whisper-soft as before.

"I think I believe you."

Laura raised her head, her eyes eloquent.

"Kadaj has told me that he hears voices sometimes. Mother's and someone else's, a man's, telling him what to do and how to do it. Most of the time, he's the same Kadaj. But sometimes, he's someone completely different. The way he was when you met him… That is not what he's usually like. When he's like that, he…"

"Cares only about Jenova." She looked at the young man in her arms. _The movie is this 'other' Kadaj, not the real one. She hasn't netted him completely yet, but she's trying. Very, very hard. _

_Well, she's not going to get him. Not if I can do anything about it. _

"Yes." Yazoo laid a hand on his brother's back, emotion finally reflecting in his yellow-green eyes. Sadness, with a touch of despair. "He is dangerously unpredictable when he's like that. He's even attacked me and Loz before. He's always sorry when he snaps out of it, but we never know if he'll do it again. You can never predict when he's going to change, or how long it's going to last. But he's like a crazed fanatic when he goes under, almost someone completely different, not our brother. Loz and I do whatever he wants so he won't turn on us." Yazoo looked genuinely ashamed now. We've…done some really bad things…to keep him happy. And when the real Kadaj comes back…we don't tell him. Kadaj doesn't like killing people; it reminds him too much of the labs in the manor."

"Is that what his nightmares stem from? What Ho…" Kadaj whimpered at that. "What _he _did to him?"

Yazoo nodded, hand still resting against his brother's back. "Most of the time. All of us had some really bad stuff done to us there. And sometimes, if one of our brothers or sisters didn't meet expectations, they'd make us fight each other to the death. Kadaj was one of their favorites for disposing of failed clones. I think he had to kill seven of our siblings, and was punished every time he cried after doing so."

"Punished for displaying emotion?" There was more than a little disbelief and disgust in Laura's voice.

"They wanted living automatons. Perfect SOLDIERs, not people with feelings. Some of the things they…" Yazoo swallowed hard, and then looked away. "Anyway, other times his nightmares are Sephiroth's memories. All the terrible things he did after he read the documents in Shinra Manor. Those aren't the worse, but they do bother him. A lot."

Kadaj was still asleep, but he murmured something then, so quietly that Laura didn't pick it up. She looked at Yazoo. "Did you catch that?"

Yazoo looked a little satisfied. "He said your name."

"My name? Why?"  
The older clone didn't reply at first. He watched his little brother for a long while before meeting Laura's eyes. "Kadaj may seem very young, but let me assure you that he is as much a fully-mature male as Loz and I. He is also deeply emotional. I don't know why, but he's taken a liking to you."

_That fast? Wow, I'm definitely impressed!_

"So, I can only tell you one thing." Yazoo glared at her, as serious as a heart attack. "If you hurt him, rest assured that I will kill you. And it will not be a quick death. I'll make it as long and excruciatingly painful as I can, until you scream for mercy, for death. Understood?"

Laura nodded, and tightened her arms around Kadaj. "Understood. But how can you be sure? That he likes me, I mean. I just met him last night!"

Yazoo gave her a look that basically said 'then why are you holding him like that?' before answering. "Because I remember the way he looked at you before, and I recall how he treated you. He's done that to only one other person, our sister Kyrie. When they were allowed to interact, that's how they were towards each other, constantly flirting in a very sexual way. They even managed to get together alone a few times, once they figured out how to jam the security cameras. But Kyrie was trapped in her cell when the scientists released their latest creation, this…_thing_…that man had bred to hunt down and kill Sephiroth. We were its test run, because we were his clones. But they didn't let us out of our cells. That thing rampaged through the cell block where we were held, breaking into the cells and murdering the people inside. I honestly don't know how Kadaj, Loz, and I got out alive, but we did. And we were followed by two others, a brother named Alezz and one sister, Nalae. Kyrie didn't make it out. Kadaj grieved for her for weeks after that, even as his addiction to all those drugs put him through the most intense pain imaginable.

"Besides, Kadaj goes by his instinct. If he feels something, he'll go with it and not think twice about it. It was the one thing about him that the scientists hated; unlike Sephiroth, he is not a cold, calculating killer. Kadaj is fire where Sephiroth was ice. I wouldn't question it, if I were you. Just go with it." Yazoo started to get up, but Laura stopped him.

"What happened to Alezz and Nalae?"

Yazoo blew a sigh, not facing her. "Alezz died when he didn't get his drugs. His body had grown to depend on them, to a far greater extent than any of the rest of us, and when he went without them, his organs failed and he went into cardiac arrest. We didn't have a Phoenix Down, and I'm not even sure that would have done much to help. They can't change the make-up of the body, after all. As for Nalae, she suffered a wound during our escape. That wound got infected, very badly, and when we finally got our hands on a Cure materia, all it served to do was close the wound and draw the infection deeper into her body. It eventually killed her." He went to the door and pulled it open, dragging it closed behind him. "Take care of him, Laura. On your life."

Relatively alone now, Laura looked down at Kadaj, still sleeping peacefully in her arms. _I don't know if Yazoo is right or not, but I do know that I wouldn't hurt him. I don't have it in me._

A split personality. It made perfect sense, now that she thought about it. There was the part Jenova had already managed to get under her control, and that was a minor piece. Then there was the true Kadaj, who was not nearly as fanatical or single-minded as the movie portrayed him. She had seen that last night.

_Jenova will drive the true, rational part of him out of his own body, and do the same to his brothers. She will drive them to insanity so Sephiroth can occupy the first available one, which will be Kadaj. And if what Yazoo said is true, then she'll wear down his resistance until his true self is too weak to fight her anymore, and the insane part she had created will take permanent control. And then _Advent Children_ will take place. _

_And all three of them will die._

Laura hugged the man a little closer, digging her hand into his silver hair and laying her head atop his as a goal solidified in her mind.

_If I can make him stronger, give him something to anchor onto that Jenova can't corrupt, then maybe… _

_Yes. It should work._

_And I'm the only thing on Gaia that Jenova cannot touch. _

"Laura?" Kadaj raised his head, eyes a little unfocused, still half-lidded in sleep. "What time is it?"

She smiled and let go of him, watching while he knelt and stretched his arms over his head. His shirt rode up his stomach until his wash-board abs were clearly visible. _Somehow, I don't think I'll be too unhappy with what I've got in mind, should certain things come to pass._ "I don't know. I don't have a clock or a watch on me."

There was a muted grumbling sound, and both of them stared at his stomach, which had clearly been the culprit. Then Kadaj laughed, a sound that sounded both wonderful and strange to Laura at the same time. She giggled a little, amused at how _normal_ he could be. "I guess that means it's time for breakfast. You hungry too?"

"Now that you mention it, yes I am. Who's cooking today?"

"I think it's Yazoo's turn, with some help from Loz." Kadaj waited at the door as Laura got off the bed, pulling her tank-top down so she looked a bit more decent. "Word of warning: if Loz offers you something, don't eat it. He never pays attention to what he puts in his concoctions. Nice top, by the way."

"Thanks." She followed him down the stairs, pleased with the view of his backside through the pants.

_Maybe this won't be so bad after all, so long as that 'other' Kadaj doesn't show up. He's kinda nice when he's not insane. _


	6. The SilverHaired Stooges

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away. Nor do I own Beggin' Strips. I have just had that damn commercial playing in my head every single time I've had bacon ever since I first saw it.

**Queen's Quornor: **We're going for 'playful' in this chapter. I mean, what do Remnants do in their spare time? How do they spend the mornings? How do they like to eat their breakfast? This question shall be answered posthaste! I figured that Junon would be a better place for them to buy supplies than, say, Bone Village. It's bigger, and probably has a better selection of various foodstuffs and things than either Bone Village or Icicle Inn, despite the ocean between them. Oh, and before any of you express disgust at the combination of foods Kadaj and Loz are eating in a single breakfast burrito, let me point out that it's really no worse than ketchup on your scrambled eggs or cranberry and orange juice mixed together. Not that I recommend either of those, because quite frankly I don't see how they could taste good, but this one, surprisingly, does taste pretty damn good together! That bread is not pita bread, btw. Think of the fried bread people in Africa or India would make. And the 'battle' in here is a true story. 'Puddinged' is what we were screaming at each other, so as far as all participants in this mad event were concerned, it is now an official part of the English language.

The Silver-Haired Stooges

Yazoo was bent over a fire, flipping some meat in a skillet when Kadaj and Laura came down the stairs and entered the clearing. Loz had pointed this place out to her last night, saying it was their kitchen, and now she could see why. It was out in the open, a short distance from the city proper, but there was plenty of dead wood lying around, a ring of stones for a fire-place, and a fallen tree half-sunk into the ground so it made a good place to sit down. _And food always tastes better outdoors, anyway. _

The 'chef' waved a hand at them lazily, absorbed with the sizzling strips of meat and another frying pan next to them, in which was some kind of round white bread frying in oil. Loz gave them a goofy grin from his position off to the side, where Yazoo could keep an eye on him. He had an enormous bowl in his hands, and was vigorously stirring at something inside it with a wooden spoon. He was humming something, loud enough that Laura thought it entirely possible that dogs five miles away could hear him.

Utilizing the din as cover, Kadaj went over to Yazoo and squatted down, followed by Laura. "What is he making _this_ time?"

Yazoo looked at him blankly, then reached up, pushed his hair back, and pulled a pair of rubber plugs out of his ears. "What?"

The youngest brother rolled his eyes while Laura giggled. "I said, what's he making this time?"

"Oh, I gave him some boxes of vanilla pudding to make. And I've been watching him, so I don't think we'll have to keep the Heal materia handy this time." Laura caught his muttered "I hope" as he replaced the ear plugs and flipped the bread onto a platter, throwing a fresh circle of dough into the skillet.

She and Kadaj took a seat on the log that was relatively close to the fire, watching the preparation of breakfast. "So…" Laura had to raise her voice a little, trying to be heard over Loz's noisy humming. "What's on the agenda for today?"

"Well, I have to replace the front tire on my bike and go into town for some supplies. Yazoo was planning on working on his marksmanship today, not that he needs to. And Loz…" Kadaj frowned at the oldest clone, who was still stirring the pudding with far more force than necessary. "It's his turn to do the chores. Laundry, oiling the leathers, cleaning up the base, etc. You can stay here, or you can go with me. Your choice."

_Yazoo was right. He really is like a different person when he's the one in control. If the other Kadaj was talking to me, he wouldn't allow me this choice_. "I think I'd like to go with you. Where do you go for supplies, anyway?"

"Junon. That's where the boat docks when the guys in Bone Village need supplies, which is why I'm going today. They only go about every two weeks. By the way, do you need clothes?"

"Now that you mention it, I could probably use some new clothes. None of the ones I have with me are clean."

Kadaj reached for a pair of tin cups and a matching pot sitting at the edge of the fire. "Give 'em to Loz. Laundry is his duty for today. Coffee?"

"Sure. Black, if you please," she quipped. He flashed her a grin, then poured the coffee into the cups and gave one to her, putting the pot back in its place next to the fire. Raising the cup, she inhaled the aromatic steam and exhaled happily. "This smells heavenly. Back home, I'd call this gourmet coffee."

"Costa del Sol's best brand, Regalos de la Sol. Pretty expensive, unless you have a way of getting it for free, like us."

_At a five-fingered discount. I guess I can't blame them. They can't exactly hold 9 to 5 jobs, after all. _

Kadaj was watching her, his body tensed as if he expected her to rebuke him. Laura was not one to judge; she was an accomplished thief in her own right. She smiled at him warmly, and took a sip of the coffee. "You have extremely good taste."

He relaxed, and tentatively returned the smile. "Thank you."

They remained quiet for a while, enjoying the morning sunlight on their skin and each others' company, sipping their coffee. After a while, as Loz's humming got more and more obnoxious, Laura noticed Yazoo slowly reaching behind him for a small rock. Kadaj grinned, and leaned closer to the curious woman.

"Here it comes," he murmured into her ear. She shivered as his hot breath hit the sensitive spot just below the lobe. Casting a quick glance at the youngest Remnant, she caught his pleased grin. _Oh yes. He's definitely male enough to appreciate making me react like that._

By now, Yazoo had the pebble in his grasp and had dragged it stealthily into his lap. Switching his spatula to the other hand, he took the rock in his left and rolled it in his fingers, getting the best grip possible on it. All this time, he had kept his eyes on the skillets and Loz had kept stirring the pudding, completely unaware of his brother's nefarious plans for him.

Having found his grip, Yazoo curled his arm, coiling his muscles in preparation for the strike. Almost faster than Laura's eyes could detect, he twisted his torso and whipped the stone at Loz, returning to his original position a half-second later, not a single strand of his sleep-mussed and unbrushed hair out of place.

The stone flew across the clearing in seconds, bounced off Loz's right temple, and disappeared into the underbrush. The bowl fell to the ground, amazingly staying upright, as its holder's hands flew up to grab his head. Kadaj and Laura couldn't keep the laughter at bay as the burly clone raced around the clearing, clutching his head and screaming "Ow ow ow!" _Is he trying to outrun the welt? _Laura wondered, watching him trip over a leg Yazoo casually stretched out. He looked so funny flailing about in the dirt that she just couldn't stop laughing. Beside her, Kadaj was bent double, guffawing loudly while his stomach began cramping with a vengeance.

Loz rolled onto his back at long last, abandoning the drunken fish-flop to glare at Yazoo, who was still sitting serenely by the fire, tending to the pans. "Why did you do that, Yazoo?" he sniffled. "You promised you wouldn't throw rocks at me anymore."

Yazoo scooped the meat strips onto three separate plates, putting a double serving on one of them. "I promised I wouldn't throw rocks at you if you would stop humming. Obviously, you haven't. So, I won't. Promise wasn't broken by me." He passed out the plates of fried bread and meat, giving the double-serving to Kadaj. "She needs her own dishes, Kadaj."

"Is the pudding finished?" the younger man questioned.

"Since none fell out, yes it is." Yazoo retrieved the bowl and put it in front of the log, then sat next to his brother's legs and grabbed the last cup for some coffee. Loz sulkily made his way to the group and grabbed his plate, sitting next to Laura with his right arm propped up on the log. "Hey, she's using my cup!"

"Loz, you don't need coffee. You're too much of a morning person as it is."

The bigger Remnant pouted. "But I like coffee."

Yazoo put the pot off to the side, as far from Loz as he could get it. "Well, you're not getting any."

"Meanie."

This exchange made Laura smile. She had never had siblings and her mother had never exactly been civil to her, so this was as close to a normal family life as she had ever gotten, listening to the interactions of others while she pretended to be invisible. It made her feel privileged, to be able to witness the feared SHM in a setting where they could just be themselves rather than what someone else wanted them to be.

She examined the meat on the plate curiously. Kadaj had balanced it between them on the log, and told her that half of it was hers. _Looks like bacon. Smells like bacon. But is it bacon?_ She smirked as an old commercial flashed into her mind. _No, it's Beggin' Strips!_

Kadaj and Loz had both taken one of the flat, pita-like bread pieces in their hands and scooped some pudding out of the bowl, spreading it in a thick layer across the bread and laying some of the meat on it. Then they rolled it up into a tube and bit into their creations, chewing with obvious enjoyment. Yazoo, on the other hand, was merely dipping chunks of bread into the bowl and eating his meat separately. Laura gnawed at her lip for a moment, considering the bowl – vanilla _was_ her favorite flavor, after all – then decided that if all three of them were eating it, the pudding had to be safe. She tore off a piece of her bread and dipped out some of the pudding, then tasted it cautiously.

_Yep, that's vanilla pudding all right._

Next she broke off a piece of the meat and tried it, the dog's voice from the commercial echoing through her head. _It's bacon!_

"So you like Yazoo's cooking?" Kadaj interrupted her train of thought, taking a swig of his coffee.

Laura nodded eagerly, ripping off a larger piece of bread. "It's really good. Better than my own, actually."

"Well, this is the only free day you're getting. You're getting added to the chore roster tomorrow, right Kadaj?"

"Once we get back from Junon. And you'll have to show her the ropes."

"Why me?"

"Because you brought it up." Kadaj took another sip of his coffee, simultaneously ending the discussion and reminding Laura of somebody's dad at the breakfast table.

Yazoo smirked. "Kadaj 1, Loz 0."

Loz huffed. "Y'know, sometimes I think I'd be better of without meanies like you."

Laura smiled and playfully knuckled the big guy's shoulder. "Awww, you know your life would be boring without them."

"Yeah, Loz. You'd be miserable without us. After all, who would do _this _to you if we weren't around?" Kadaj suddenly tackled his older brother, administering a high-speed noogie with a maniac grin, causing Loz to let out a high-pitched, almost girly yelp.

"I don't know. But I do know that I wouldn't be able to do this again!" With that warning, he grabbed his younger brother around the waist and wrestled him into a headlock, madly ruffling his silver hair while offering Laura a mischievous wink.

"Argh! Loz! No!" Kadaj struggled madly to get free, but his muscular captor was having none of it. Laura tried hard to keep from laughing out loud at his myriad of changing expressions, but Yazoo had no such compulsion about preserving a measure of his brother's dignity. He was leaning back against the log with his head thrown back to the sky, laughing like a crazed loon.

"Can't catch me, Kadaj!" By now, Loz had released his brother and leader from the hold and was racing madly around the clearing, flowed closely by the brother in question.

"Get back here, you asshole! By the time I'm finished with you, your voice will be so high only dogs will be able to hear it!"

This spectacle was too much for Laura. She threw back her head and howled, laughing so hard her ribs ached. _Now _this_ is entertainment! Hell, it's even better than the movie!_

And it only got better. Kadaj abruptly stopped running, his quarry not even realizing that he was no longer being chased, and calmly walked over to the pudding bowl. Picking it up, he assumed the classic pitcher's pose.

"Hey Loz!"

The bigger clone skidded to a stop on the other side of the fire. _He's kinda cute when he's confused. _"Huh?"

"Think fast!"

_Splat!_

Laura and Yazoo laughed even harder as he stood there, pudding dripping down his face and chest, the bowl at his feet. Abruptly, he scooped a handful off his cheek and hurled it at Kadaj.

But Kadaj ducked, and the pudding ball splattered against Yazoo's face.

Before Laura even knew what was happening, the three Remnants were involved in a full-fledged pudding war, with vanilla blobs flying back and forth across the clearing at near-constant intervals. Laughter and insults accompanied the pudding balls, and by the time it died down all three of them were liberally smeared with the sweet dessert. During all this, Laura had managed to escape getting a single speck of pudding on her.

Or at least, she _had_. Kadaj suddenly pointed at her and yelled "Hey, Laura's still clean!"

Then he was after her, and she was running through the forest, laughing the whole time. She thought she had left him in the dust, but…

A vanilla-scented specter suddenly dropped from the trees in front of her, making her stop in her tracks. He grinned at her, all of his teeth showing, and slowly began walking towards her. Laura inched away from him, knowing his intentions and really not wanting to get pudding all over her. When she felt the rough bark of one of the snow-white trees against her back, she knew she was about to be…

_Puddinged. _

Kadaj stopped his advance only inches away from her, still grinning up at her. "Hey Laura. You know what?"

"What?" she asked, taking a grip on the bark and pressing as hard against it as she could in an effort to get some more space between them.

"You're a really good kisser."

That threw her for a loop. "What?"

"Am I a really good kisser too?"

"Yeeessss…" she answered slowly. _Why the change of subject?_

"You don't sound sure of it."

"Oh, I am. Trust me."

"I think you need more convincing."

Before she could think of an appropriate reply, he was right up against her, hands in her hair, lips on hers. And the kiss was so hot, she just couldn't stop herself from putting her arms around his body in an attempt to get him even closer to her. _Where the hell did he LEARN this? He's not just good. He's DAMN GOOD!_ _And he hasn't even slipped me any tongue, yet!_

The kiss was ended far too soon, as far as she was concerned. Kadaj wrapped up by resting his head beneath her chin, arms around her waist and a soft sigh of contentment coming from his talented mouth. Laura, slightly dazed, could only hold him too her and stare at the trees. She couldn't remember any of her ex-boyfriends being _that_ orally talented.

"Hey Laura."

"Yeah, Kadaj?"

He lifted his head, and there was a naughty glint in those yellow-green eyes of his. "You're not clean anymore."

_Oh. No…_ She looked down as he backed off slightly, and gave a helpless laugh. Her front was soaked with pudding, and she was willing to bet that her hair was full of the stuff now, too. After taking in her altered appearance, she mock-glared at Kadaj and put her hands on her hips, shaking her head slightly. "You don't fight fair. You know that, don't you?"

"Hey, you enjoyed that kiss." Kadaj grabbed her hand, and began to lead her back in the direction of the Forgotten City. "C'mon. We both need baths now, and I imagine that Loz and Yazoo are already in the tubs."

"Ummm…" She tried to think of a way to formulate the question now burning a hole in her brain.

"You'll be in a separate tub. Don't worry about it. The Cetra were into communal baths, but they kept individual tubs. Thank Holy the water still runs."

"But we'll be in the same room, right?"

"Yeah."

_Wonderful… Silver-haired eye candy. Mmmmm…_

_Down, girl!_


	7. SilverHaired Eye Candy

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor:** OK, here is the bath chapter. Amazingly, I have never read a single fic that has any of the SHM doing a thing so mundane as taking a bath… Scratch that, there was the amazingly funny "Advent Children 90210." But that is the only one. I mean, what do people think they do? Just stay dirty? Lick themselves clean like cats (oh God, I can't believe I just typed that…)? Put themselves through a car wash? They don't look dirty to me. So here, for your benefit, is my idea of how they get clean: just like you and me! Oh, and does anybody know EXACTLY what color their eyes are? In some frames of the movie it looks yellow-green, in others it looks blue-green. Which is it?

Silver-Haired Eye Candy

_How the hell am I going to get out of this? _Laura wondered, now completely stripped down and clutching a ragged old blanket to her front. She was about to take a bath in the same room as the three hottest guys she had ever seen, and the only empty tub with running water was right next to the hottest one of all. It was like the beginning of a fangirl's wet dream!

And she was scared shitless because that meant they would be seeing her naked too, if only for a moment or two.

"Come on, Laura!" Kadaj called. "Your water's gonna get cold!"

"Ok, ok. Keep your shirt on, I'm coming!"

"What shirt?" he playfully asked.

"Whatever." _Deep breath, Laura. Try not to panic. They don't even have to see you. Just spread the blanket when you get in the tub and keep your back to them. Now, go. Left foot, right foot. Left foot, right foot. Repeat as necessary._

The bathing room was a spacious chamber the Cetra builders had dug underground, with separate pools carved into the floor at various points, each only big enough to accommodate a single person. _Or two, if they don't mind getting really, really cozy._ There were pipes sprouting up from the ground at every pool, with valves to turn for the water. Due to the hot springs under the chamber, the water was actually warm, but you had to wait for it to cool down to a reasonable temperature before getting in if you didn't want to be scalded.

Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz had already gotten in three of the four working, intact pools; the water was nearly to the brim but their shoulders and upper chests were still above the water-level. Loz waved at her as she approached the full, unoccupied tub, blanket now wrapped tightly around her slender body. Still nervous, she waved back at him.

All three of them had already washed the pudding out of their hair and off the then-exposed areas of flesh, and were now simply relaxing in the warm water. Yazoo and Kadaj were tossing some sort of ball back and forth between their pools, while Loz was merely watching them.

Laura moved around the tubs so her back was to the SHM, then dipped her toe into the water. It was still really warm, but no unbearably so. Happy that such was the case and _really _wanting the pudding out of her hair, Laura prepared to get into the pool…

Then shrieked as her blanket was suddenly ripped away, exposing her to the gazes of three _very_ interested silver-haired men.

A split-second later she scrambled into the tub, as red as the proverbial lobster. After taking a moment to compose herself, she turned a baleful gaze on the men. Not surprisingly, it was Kadaj who had taken possession of her blanket.

"That wasn't funny."

He grinned wickedly at her. "But I wanted to see."

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe I didn't want to show you yet?"

"'Yet'?"

"I…Uh…" _Oh, good going, Laura. You just told all three of them that you were seriously considering playing hide the salami with Kadaj!_

Still wearing a smug smile, Kadaj leaned his head back on the rim of the pool. "Wanna see me?"

"Kadaj!" she couldn't help squeaking, embarrassed to even be having this conversation.

"What? It's an honest question!"

"You're terrible, Kadaj. Just terrible." Yazoo tossed him the ball again. "And it's your turn."

He grabbed the ball from midair, then winked at Laura . "I think Laura's tattoo is really sexy." Then he threw it back to Yazoo.

Loz rolled his eyes and draped a wet, steaming scrap of cloth over his face, laying his head back and resting his arms on the edges of the tub. "Count me out. I always lose when I play with you guys."

"You're just a poor sport, Loz."

"Hey Laura, why don't you play with us? Once you finish with your hair, I mean," Yazoo offered.

"I dunno. What are you playing?"

Kadaj lazily kicked his feet in the water. "It's called 'Truth or Dunk.' The way it works is that you catch the ball and say something that at least sounds like a truth. If neither of the other participants call you on it, thinking that you're lying, you throw the ball at one of them and they take their turn. But if they think you're lying, you get dunked. Pretty simple, really."

"And who does the dunking?"

"The other players, of course."

_Excuse me while I drool… Oh God, that means I'll have to help dunk one of them if I think they're lying!_ "What if they get it wrong and you weren't lying?"

"Then the dunkee becomes the dunker, and both of the dunkers become dunkees."

_Well, I guess I was planning on seeing him in his birthday suit sooner or later… Might as well know what I'm dealing with. He's already seen me now. _"Sure. Why not?"

"Great!" Yazoo tossed her a bottle of something. "So hurry up."

She grabbed it and read the label. "Lockheart 2-in-1 Shampoo and Conditioner." _Does Tifa run a side business in hair-care products? _

"It's good stuff. We all use it."

Laura shrugged and poured some in her hands, scrubbing it into her hair and then dunking below the surface a few times to rinse it out. Once it was done, the water was rather cloudy and she was clean again. "Ok, give me the ball."

Obligingly, the ball came at her and she squeezed it between her hands, trying to think up a truthful lie so she could get an eyeful or two. "Ok… I want to dye my hair silver so I match you guys."

A snort came from beneath Loz's washcloth, but neither of the other two got out of their tubs. Slightly disappointed, Laura threw the ball to Yazoo. "Your turn."

"I think it would be really hot to see Kadaj having a makeout session with Laura." The ball was tossed to the aforementioned brother.

"I wouldn't mind having a makeout session with Laura." The ball flew at her again.

"You need kissing lessons." _If that doesn't get a response, then I don't know what will._

Kadaj stared at her, dumbfounded. Then he smirked at her and braced his arms on the sides of the pool, slowly lifting his body from the water. Laura was now staring at a completely naked, dripping wet silver-haired man, and had to swallow convulsively to prevent herself from drooling. Aware that she was frozen like a deer caught in the headlights, he approached her, moving slowly so she could take in every inch of him. And she knew he was letting her have this show on purpose; she could see it in his smug smile. Then he was kneeling beside her, and her gaze was drawn immediately to the sizable (_stop staring Laura! Stopstaringstopstaringstopstaringstop…Shut up already! I'm staring, goddammit!)_ cock less than a foot away from her face.

"Like what you see?" he murmured, watching her.

She nodded mutely.

"You want it?"

Again, she nodded.

"Well, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little while. Because…" His hand reached slowly for her head. "You are in desperate need of a dunking!"

"No!" Laura had just enough time to draw in half a lungful of air before she was shoved beneath the surface. Despite her frantic struggles, Kadaj held her under effortlessly. Although it seemed like an eternity to her, it was probably only about ten seconds before he finally let her up.

Coughing, she had a chance to take in his backside while he strolled back to his tub. _Damn, I was right about it. Very nice indeed!_

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

The game continued for about fifteen more minutes, with all three of them getting dunked at various points. Laura eventually got over her initial shyness and got in on the dunking, loving how much fun it was to hold such strong, powerful men underwater while they struggled. All too soon, Loz and Yazoo decided they had had enough ("My skin's getting all wrinkled!") and left the bathing room, affording Laura a good look at them as well. Loz was a little too muscular for her tastes, and Yazoo was pretty much along the same lines as Kadaj, well-formed and lithely muscled, but not overly so. However, Yazoo was not the one she had a sudden lust for. That Remnant was still in his tub next to her, idly soaping up his arms with another scrap of cloth.

"So where did the tattoo come from, anyway?" he asked.

Laura turned her head to look at him, slightly surprised. The question was a little unexpected. "I got it when I was fifteen. Just thought it would look cool, that's all. Why?"

"I wasn't lying before. It's a lot cooler than mine." He seemed a little subdued now, an abrupt mood-change from his earlier playfulness.

"You have a tattoo?"

"You didn't see it earlier?"

"I was…a little distracted." She blushed. _As if it wasn't obvious…_

In answer, Kadaj turned away from her and lifted his hair so the base of his neck was visible. And there, at the very spot where his neck melted into his back, was a number, done in stark black ink.

_15. _

"What…"

"It was my creation number," he flatly answered. "I was the fifteenth clone they created. I've also got an identification number on my right arm, inside the forearm. '15-223-1997. Name: Kadaj.' Yazoo and Loz have them too, but the numbers are different."

"Kadaj…" Laura felt so helpless. She knew this anger would be the catalyst Jenova would use to get inside him, this hatred of the things Shinra had put him and the others through. But she didn't know how to heal it, to heal the wounds and scars he carried with him at all times. All she could do was get out of the pool and go to him, slipping in the tub behind him and putting her arms around him in an attempt to offer some comfort.

Which she did.

He accepted the embrace but he didn't, remaining tense even while his hands crept up to grip her arms. She felt tremors running through him and was unsure whether this signaled anger or sadness. "They treated us like animals, Laura. Day after day, all we were were test animals, subjects for these awful experiments they cooked up. And after every experiment, there were operations. So they could see what happened to us. And when they hurt us, they laughed. They _laughed_, like we just didn't matter at all." The shudders increased, and Laura had this sinking feeling that he was crying again. "Are we worth so little, Laura? So little that nobody cares about us at all?"

"That's not true, Kadaj!" She held him to her, whispering fiercely into his hair. "You matter to each other, and you matter to me! If there was anything I could do to take back everything those scientists did to you and your siblings, I would do it without a second thought. Anything at all! You are clones, but you're people too! You have rights, feelings… You are not worthless. You never were, and never will be!

"Unlike me…"

"What the hell do you mean? You aren't worthless either!" Kadaj twisted around so they were face-to-face, his eyes suddenly burning with blue-green fire. "Nobody worthless would care about us like you do." His arms were around her now, clutching her to him like a lifeline. "I wouldn't care about someone worthless, Laura. And I care about you."

"Really?" Coming from Kadaj, that sounded a little unbelievable.

"I wouldn't lie, Laura." Then he was kissing her again, and in that kiss she found her answer.

_He isn't kidding. He really does care about me…_

And she was kissing him back, because she felt the same way. Kadaj was hardly what an old-fashioned woman would think of as a suitable prospect, but to her, he was just about perfect.

And he needed her. That vulnerability attracted her more than anything else about him. Unless she could save him, he would be lost.

_Who am I doing this for? Him, or me? Hell, does it even matter anymore? _

_Just don't let go of me, Kadaj. Don't let go of your only chance, _our_ only chance. _

"Hey, get a room!" Loz's deep voice broke them apart, both blushing to a certain degree. The older clone had come back into the room and he was standing by the far wall with a small half-grin, arms crossed above the towel wrapped around his middle.

"What do you want, Loz?" Kadaj groaned, sinking a little lower in the water. _Hiding a natural biological function of the male body, I see…_

"I left my hair gel in here, that's all. But you might want to get going, if you want to catch the boat. It's leaving today, after all."

"Oh… Right…" Kadaj gave her an aggrieved look, and she shrugged helplessly. "C'mon, Laura. We'd better hurry."

As Laura followed him out of the bathing room, once again wrapped in her blanket, she couldn't help but think that this was moving a lot faster than she had originally anticipated. _I mean, if Loz hadn't come in, I'd be willing to bet a few hundred bucks that we would be having sex right about now. I'm not afraid of him, or of sex with him. But why am I letting this go so fast? _

_Because you've only got so much time, that's why. Jenova's not going to wait forever; you've got to make him stronger, anchor him to you, before she starts trying even harder to get him to throw himself into the abyss. You don't have time for a leisurely courtship, and this isn't about you anyway, Laura._

_I'm willing to do whatever it takes to protect him from her. Even if it means giving everything I have to him. _

_Even if it means my destruction. _


	8. Hes Not The One, But

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and a lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **I have got to, got to thank people for reading this. Honestly, I wasn't so sure this fic would be read at all, considering how many world-swap fics we currently have floating around, but I have been pleasantly surprised. I'm only on chapter 8, and already it's gotten more hits than most of my other fics! To those of you still reading this Mary Sue-nonsense, you have my deepest gratitude. Double thanks, cookies, and your choice of SHM plushie to those of you leaving me reviews! Now that that's out of my system, onto commenting on the chapter at hand. Yes, I am working my way up to a lemon in either the next chapter or the one after it. The way I justify this, before any of you start ganging up on me and firing the flamethrowers, is that Laura is willing to do whatever it takes to keep Kadaj as Kadaj, rather than Jenova's Kadaj. If that means sleeping with him so he'll attach his heart and mind to her instead of Jenova, then she'll do it. And it seems to be working. Thus far, anyway…(laughs evilly). But what I'm wondering is, can she keep her heart out of this? Ah, the eternal issue of the Mary Sue! To love or not to love, that is the question! Or if we're going to be more graphic, I guess the question would be 'to screw or not to screw'... I guess you'll just have to wait and see, because at this point the fic is still at the mercy of the muses, and they are fickle creatures indeed…

He's not The One, but…

After a frantic sniff-test, Laura finally decided upon a pair of jeans and a black spaghetti-strap top as her clothing for the day. Due to a certain lack of time, she decided to simply tie her hair back and run a brush through it when she got back. As soon as she was presentable and her dirty clothes were thrown at a surprised Loz, she raced outside.

Kadaj was impatiently waiting for her by his motorcycle, dressed in a one-sleeved variation of his _Advent Children _leather bodysuit. To Laura's amusement, the outfit looked a lot like a leather version of Cloud's sweater and pants. But the sleeve was covering his right arm instead of the left (_all the better to hide that tattoo_), and the zipper was open halfway down his chest, not zipped up to the neck. And of course, the wolf's head was missing. But there was a black leather headband tied on just under his bangs, similar to the one Vincent always wore, but a lot thinner. Oddly, the outfit looked better on Kadaj than it did on Cloud. As soon as he saw her, he mounted the bike.

"Get on behind me, but be careful not to touch the pipes," he instructed. After a moment Laura slid on behind him and linked her arms around his waist, suddenly grateful that he had a motorcycle and not a car. _What red-blooded, straight woman wouldn't prefer holding onto someone this sexy rather than merely sitting next to him? Damn, the movie actually _toned down_ how hot he really is!_ As soon as she was settled, he revved up the engine and took off into the forest.

_God help me, but I thought Loz was a fast driver!_

Kadaj was not only a speed demon, he was also a reckless driver. More than once, Laura truly through they were going to be killed by a head-on collision of some kind, only to find that they were still alive and in one piece an eye-blink later. She was not adverse to high speeds, really, but she definitely didn't like the chances Kadaj routinely took while going at triple digit speeds. She trusted him, but the odds of a crash occurring terrified her.

To stop herself from panicking every time a tree or log loomed up before them, Laura buried her face against Kadaj's back, screwing her eyes tightly shut so there was no chance of witnessing any fast-approaching death. _Please God please, don't let us crash! Please God please, don't let us crash! Please God please…_

After what seemed like an eternity, Laura felt the wind decrease a bit and dared to raise her head. Kadaj had slowed the bike down to what was relatively a crawl, but was probably more like thirty or forty miles per hour, following a trail alongside a small stream. In the distance, she could hear waves crashing against a shore.

"You okay back there?" Kadaj asked, casting her a quick glance over his shoulder. It was with some irritation that she noticed the amused twinkle in his eye.

_I'm practically dying back here, and he finds this humorous? What an asshole! Correction: sexy asshole, but an asshole nonetheless! _

"You're too reckless," she gritted out. "Take way too many chances."

"We're still alive and nearly at the dock, aren't we? Don't worry; you can stretch your legs out once we get on the boat. In the meantime, could you loosen your grip a little, please? You're squeezing my intestines up into my lungs."

"Sorry," she mumbled, unwinding her fingers from the death-knot they had formed in front of his stomach and reclasping them less tightly. "Anything else?"

He was silent for a moment, then "You can put your head back down, if you want."

The trail was clear, no reason to duck down. _He just wants to feel like a strong, powerful man. Easy to accomplish; he _is_ one, after all._ "Sure. Thank you." Closing her eyes, Laura leaned her head against his back, this time resting her cheek against the leather rather than her entire face. It was really relaxing to be in this position, she discovered. Her usual need for blasting music on the road melted away, replaced by her contentment in listening to the sound of his breathing, the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. _Strange how I'm more comfortable with him than I ever was with any of my ex-boyfriends, when he's ten times more likely to kill me than they were. _

All too soon, she heard Kadaj call out to someone, his voice reverberating through his back directly into her ear. "Hey, Cap'n Stu! Got room for two more?"

"'Course I do, Jadak! You know there's always room for you and your brothers!" an oddly Cid-like voice yelled back. There was a scraping sound, then Laura felt them going up an incline. As soon as they leveled out and the bike came to a complete stop, she lifted her head and looked around. _'Jadak,' eh? How original of you, Kadaj. What do Loz and Yazoo go by, I wonder? Zol and Oozay?_

They were on a ship. A basic, run-of-the-mill ocean freighter. A small one, but a freighter nonetheless. Laura didn't see too many people running around, but she assumed that the ones she did see were probably archeologists from Bone Village. They certainly looked the part. As Kadaj switched off the bike and slid off, Laura noticed a tall man with a short blond beard and a captain's hat, smoking pipe clamped tightly between his teeth, approaching them. "You've got a young lady with you this time, I see," he drawled around the pipe. "Fuckin' hell, Jadak. You sure can pick 'em."

Kadaj grinned and put his arm around Laura's shoulders. "Tell me something I don't know, Stu. Laura is special. She's not like any of the others."

Laura felt her heart sink. _Others?_

"Well, don't go rockin' the fuckin' boat again this time. Last time you had a lady onboard, you nearly capsized the damned boat!" He sounded stern, but Laura did notice a certain fatherly fondness in his gruff voice.

"I'll keep that in mind, Captain." Kadaj took her hand and began leading her away. "Do we have to pay fare this time?"

"You know I won't take gil from kids like you!" the captain roared, striding away to the bridge. "You need that fuckin' gil more than I do!"

Laura's head was spinning. _Kadaj had brought other women to the City before? Had sex with them? How many? How good was it?_

_What happened to those other women? What will happen to _me

"What's wrong?"

She realized with a start that they were now in the shaded area beside the bridge, beside the rail. Kadaj was standing behind her, his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder. Laura sighed and relaxed back against him slightly. _Not too much, Laura; he is a little shorter than you, remember?_

"You never mentioned there were other girls."

"And you haven't had other guys?"

"Dates, yes. Sex, no. It just worries me; what happened to those other women?"

"Still a virgin, eh? That's easily remedied."

"I was waiting for the right guy." _But I suspect it'll end up going to you. _"Just answer the question."

They swayed for a moment as the ship shuddered, then steadied when it began moving. "All of those women are back on the mainland. I wouldn't know what happened to them; I only knew them as long as I was in Junon or on the boat. Once we docked at Bone Village Harbor, we always parted ways."

_Hookers. All of them were hookers._

This realization, absurdly, caused a wave of relief to wash over her. Yazoo hadn't been mistaken when he said there hadn't been anybody since Kyrie; those other women had all been with him merely so he could satisfy his itch. They hadn't been his girlfriends!

"So you're not a virgin after all," she mused happily. "I always wondered about that, ever since I first saw _Advent Children_."

He chuckled, low enough that the sound vibrated up her spine and made her shiver. "Do you make a habit of trying to figure out the sexual status of your favorite movie characters?"

She turned in his arms, head already bending to his. "Only the ones I like."

This kiss was slower, more sensual and loving than the others. There was no rush, no fierce, desperate hunger. Just a slow fire building leisurely, a savoring of what they both had to offer the other. Kadaj held her like a treasure, something to cherish and never let go. Laura savored it, wallowed in it.

He made her feel…

_Special_.

When the kiss was ended, the embrace continued, their arms loosely wrapped around each other. It was practically a given, in Laura's mind, that they would eventually become intimate. Kadaj's actions practically screamed that he wanted her, and she'd be a liar to say that she didn't feel the same about him.

_And he hates liars, after all…_

Besides, allowing him to lose himself in her body would be another anchor. Jenova couldn't touch her, so if he had her to hold onto in a way the Calamity couldn't duplicate, it would be that much harder for her to drive him out of his mind.

"When?" she asked, leaving so much unsaid.

"First night in Junon." He understood, as she knew he would. "Tomorrow night."

_I get my cherry popped tomorrow night. _

_I don't know if Kadaj is The One…_

_But I do know I can give myself to him, so he can keep himself. _

"How good are you?" _Oh shit! Did I really just say that?_

One gloved hand stroked soothingly up and down her back. "Don't worry about it, Laura. I promise, you'll be screaming before we're through."

_That good or that bad? Pay along, Laura. He might really be that good._ She grinned, even through Kadaj couldn't see it. "I'll be holding you to that."

"I know you will."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Laura sat up in the bunk, arms wrapped around her thighs and chin resting atop her knees. Kadaj was asleep in the bunk below her, peacefully this time; she hadn't heard a single sound from that general direction for a long while now. Her thoughts were elsewhere, anyway.

_How long have I been here, in Earth's time?_ _How long has it been since I got back from the Adirondacks and Mr. Harris put me on suspension? Do Earth and Gaia run on the same time or is there a difference? _She smiled wryly. _A question even the aged sages cannot answer. I'm the only person I know who has ever been sucked into a DVD! _

_Well, here's another one for the Experts: how the hell am I supposed to get home? Am I stuck here, or am I only here for a set time? Will I ever see Earth again?_

Her mind wandered over the people she knew back home, the various acquaintances, exes-but-still-friends, and Denise. She remembered them with the same quality she always did; there was no fuzziness or difficulty as one might expect in sci-fi and fantasy movies. _Brian and Denise are really the only people who would miss me if I didn't come back. They're the only ones I could possibly consider friends. Not even my own mother would give a damn if she never saw me again. _

That truth, as ever, hurt. But she roughly shoved the tears away and told herself it was nothing, her mother had never cared about her and it just didn't matter. It was the same mantra she had recited to herself for years upon years, for as long as she could remember.

Her thoughts circled to her new companions, the SHM. In only a day, Kadaj knew more about her than even Denise, she had had a deeper heart-to-heart with Yazoo than the ones she had shared with Brian, and she had laughed harder with all three of them than she ever had with Joseph. There was no denying it; they had wormed their way into her heart and made themselves comfortable. The movie had them so linear, but in truth they were complex men, each with their own thoughts and feelings, not all of which had anything to do with 'Mother.' In fact, they were so much like her and the group she had once called 'friends' that it was frightening. Pain, sorrow, loss, fear, survival… Those were words they knew as intimately as she.

_Would it really be so awful to stay here? If I can keep Jenova from sinking her claws into them, that is… _

_Gaia is not your home, Laura. You really don't belong here._

_But I could _make_ it my home. Isn't it true that we control, we make, our own destinies? That home is where the heart is? _

_And my heart is right here, with them. _

_Because they need me. _

_But what if you can't? What if you fail to prevent their madness and deaths? _

_I won't! _

_I failed to stop someone's death before. That isn't going to happen again. _

_I swear… I won't stand by and watch someone I care about die again. _

"Do you hear me, Jenova?" she whispered fiercely. "They won't die for you. I won't let you use them and throw them away for Sephiroth's resurrection. I'll fight you to my last breath, if that's what it takes to keep them from you. You won't touch them, as long as I live! Not Loz. Not Yazoo.

"And definitely not Kadaj.

"I won't let you kill them, you alien bitch. Do you understand me? You can't have them!"

There was a soft rustling from below, then Kadaj's voice. "Laura? 'Zat you?"

Panic flooded her mind. _He didn't hear me, did he?_ "It's nothing, Kadaj. Go back to sleep."

"Can I sleep with you?"

_Are we talking 'sleeping' or 'sleeping together?' _"If you want to. But no sex until tomorrow night, right?"

"No sex 'till t'morrow. Yeah." Almost effortlessly, he swung himself up into her bunk and stretched out beside her. Laura couldn't help but smile when she saw that he was more than half-asleep on his feet. He really was kind of sweet when he was conked out. She lay down and pulled the blanket over their bodies, tucking it securely around his back, and then smoothed the hair away from his sleeping face and put one arm around him. As soon as she was comfortable, Laura relaxed and let sleep come to her.


	9. Shield Me

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **This chapter actually gave me a fair bit of trouble. I had to introduce 'Evil Kadaj of Jenova' without the idea I've got in mind coming to the forefront, and I had to show exactly how much Jenova's touch corrupts and hurts when she reaches out to her sons. In the end, this turned out to be a really angsty, kinda fluffy chapter. And while I normally can't stand writing fluff, this is the best version I can come up with to show how much Jenova hurts Kadaj and how much Laura's feelings have changed since she first met him – which was really only two days ago. Talk about a whirlwind romance! The bit with his pupils comes from a few frames in the movie where his eyes look like normal human ones, then narrow to the cat-like eyes. I think this is a sign of when Jenova's got total control of his mind, and makes him do things he normally wouldn't. Anyway, read, leave a review, etc. The lemon should be in the next chapter. Be patient; it'll be a good one. As explicit as my DMC readers have come to expect of me.

Shield Me

"Laur…L…Lau…ra! _Laura_!"

The frantic desperation in the voice made Laura snap out of her slumber, immediately turning her gaze to Kadaj. He was kneeling on the covers, fingers digging deeply into his arms, blood seeping in thin crimson trails down his naked arm. His eyes were wide, full of terror, and…

She felt her blood freeze, her heart stop.

The pupils were straining, flashing to cat-like slits and then back to normal.

_She's trying to make him go under!_

"Kadaj!" She reached out to him, grabbing his hands and clutching them tightly in her own. "Fight it, Kadaj! Fight it!"

"Ca…Can't!"

"Yes you can!" She yanked his hands, made him look at her. "Focus on me, Kadaj. Don't listen to her! Don't give in!"

His back arched, throwing his head back to face the ceiling. "Moth…!" he choked.

"No, Kadaj! Not her! Laura! It's _Laura_!"

His spine snapped the other way, driving him forward so his head was bent nearly to their tightly-clasped hands. "Seph… Sephi…!"

"No! You're Kadaj! _Kadaj!_ Say it with me! What's your name?"

"My name…?"

"Yes! Your name!" She jerked his hands again in emphasis. "What is your name?"

"I… I am…" Another convulsion, this one stronger than either of the previous ones, wracked his body. He fell back onto the blanket, writhing and twisting as if electricity was coursing through his veins. But it was not electrical currents; Laura still had his hands in her grasp, and nothing was passing from him to her. Whatever was tormenting him was in the very fabric of his being.

_In his cells… _

"Kadaj!" She grabbed his face, cupped it between her hands and forced him to look at her. "Who am _I?_ Say my name!"

His mouth worked soundlessly, eyes still alternating between slitted and oval pupils.

"What's my name, Kadaj? What's my name?" _Get your claws out of him, you blue-assed, bodyless jack-o-lantern! Leave him alone!_

"Lau…"

_Come on, Kadaj! Come on!_

"La…"

_Kadaj!_

"Laura." His body relaxed, so abruptly that she worried he had passed out. His pupils slitted one more time, then returned to the normal black circles and stayed that way.

"Kadaj?" She crawled up to his side, trying to suppress the shaking of her hand as she smoothed some hair away from his sweaty brow. "Are you all right?"

His eyes slowly slid shut, and he exhaled, so carefully. "Thank you… Laura," he whispered.

_Thank God…_The woman lowered herself by his side, laid her head in the hollow where arm met chest and rested her left hand on his heart. "You're welcome, Kadaj."

His arms slowly crept around her, the fingers winding into and gripping the cotton of her top. As if he needed something to hold onto and know that he was still in control. "Why do you care so much?"

Her voice was equally low, just a whisper in the dark, moonlit cabin. "I don't know. Why do _you _care so much?"

"I don't know."

Silence reigned, dark and forbidding. Then…

"You make me feel like I'm enough."

She traced her fingers up and down one of the lines of stitching holding the leather together. "What do you mean?"

"I don't have to prove anything around you. I'm strong enough, smart enough, just…_enough_. You'll take me as I am. Nobody has ever tried to avoid changing me before, not even my brothers."

"It's because I don't want you to change. I like you just the way you are. And I don't want a single thing to change." _Because it will be far worse if you do._

"I can't fight her forever, Laura. She's…too powerful." He sounded so resigned, so hopeless and full of despair, that Laura's heart clenched.

"How long have you been fighting her off?"

"Two years. Ever since Meteorfall."

_She didn't give a damn about him before Sephiroth died. She's only interested in him because he can be turned into her favored son, not because of his own abilities. _

_Blue-assed, black-hearted, slime-sucking bitch!_

"You've held out this long. Can't you hold out a little longer?"

"Fights have to end sometime. I can't hold her back forever."

Her eyes closed, and her fingers tightened slightly on his chest. "You know what will happen if she takes complete control of you, don't you?"

"I know more than Yazoo and Loz tell me, what I do when she's got me under control. I don't know for certain what will happen, ultimately, but I've got my suspicions."

"I know what will happen. To them, to you." _Don't ask me. Please…_

"I know you do." She felt his head nuzzle atop hers, his breath hot against her scalp. "I don't want to know the truth."

"Just don't let go of me, Kadaj. I'll be your shield." _If you'll let me._

"You protect me, as I protect you. But not as I would my brothers."

Laura felt her heart racing. _Did I just hear that correctly?_

"I'll protect you because you're my girl. Because I…care about you."

_He was about to say something else, wasn't he? Oh my god, he was! He almost said…_

_Oh my god._

"I feel the same," she softly confessed, knowing it to be true. Her reasons for protecting him from Jenova were now more personal than they were altruistic. Far closer to her heart than she would have ever believed.

_And so much faster than I could have dreamed… But it's not too fast._

_This is right. I know it is. _

"Thanks, Laura."

"For what?" _For caring about you?_

"For understanding. For being there. For everything."

Laura slid her arm across his chest, holding him to her heart. "You're welcome."

Just as she was dozing off again, lulled to sleep by the steady beat of his heart, she thought she heard him whisper "Don't leave me."

_I won't, Kadaj. I promise, I won't. _

_Just don't let go of me, for both our sakes. _


	10. How to Cure Blue Balls

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Also do not own Tomb Raider or any of the other assorted commercial entities listed herein. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **Two chapters in one day! Whoot! I'm in a writing mood! After the last chapter, I wanted to do something a little lighter, and I think this chapter delivers very well indeed. And as promised, the first lemon is in this chapter. Semi-lemon, anyway. I hope it delivers, because I really think that Kadaj is not a virgin, and I hope I made that clear with the references to Kyrie. He's got experience, and Laura is surprisingly knowledgeable for a first-timer. Don't worry; Kadaj will be rewarding Laura's efforts in the next chapter, with the first true lemon. And while I am still unable to see Kadaj or any of the silver-haired men with hair any color other than silver, I figured he and his brothers wouldn't leave it that color when they have to go out around other people (prior to the movie, that is).

How to Cure Blue Balls

Junon was bigger than Laura had always believed. It was not sprawling cityscape like Edge or Midgar, but rather a large town with a cozy, friendly atmosphere. It had grown (_well, of course it has! I'm actually smaller than the buildings, now that they aren't on the television anymore_) to cover the cliffs above, and the old Shinra military base had been converted into an apartment building. The place actually reminded her of Denise's hometown in North Carolina; sprawling but still close-knit.

Captain Stu had docked in the harbor alongside one of the bigger liners, and stayed aboard his 'baby,' the aptly named _Saltbreeze_. By now, Laura strongly suspected that Stu was a relative of Cid's, a captain who had taken to the sea rather than the air. He not only swore enough to be related to the pilot, but he also bore a striking resemblance to the man.

_And just as protective of his _Saltbreeze _as Cid is of the _Shera_. He's damn scary when he's mad!_

Kadaj had driven his bike off the freighter, and now Laura sat behind him on the seat, arms around his waist and taking in the sights at her leisure. "So what kind of supplies do you need?" she queried. He was driving slow enough that normal speech was possible.

"Foodstuffs, mostly. Yazoo wanted a few more books, I have some magazines I have to pick up. Loz wants the new cd by this band from Edge he really likes. And of course, you need new clothes."

"Yazoo also wanted me to get some dishes for myself, but my mess kit will serve the same purpose, once it's clean."

"That's good. I've got more than enough gil to cover all of the expenses, but we may have to pull some light-fingers." He glanced at her over his shoulder, quick enough that she couldn't read his expression. "Any objections?"

Laura thought about it, then reached a decision. "None. I may be a little out of practice, but I was a pretty good thief back in the day."

"Don't worry. I can cover for you if you'll cover for me."

"No problem." A thought occurred to her. "Um, what are you going to do about your appearance? Silver isn't exactly a common hair color, after all." _And unless I'm reading too much into all these stares we're getting, immediate cause for suspicion._

"Silly woman. That's what Disguise materia are for!"

_Disguise materia?_

_Y'know, I bet Cloud would've reeeaaaallly liked to have had one of those when he had to do the whole 'rescue-Tifa-from-Don-Corneo's' thing…_ She smothered a laugh, imagining what Cloud must have looked like in a pink silk dress, complete with blond wig, diamond tiara, and makeup. _He must have been a very pretty woman, despite being a little flat-chested. _

Kadaj was pulling into an alleyway, gliding to a stop and digging through his pockets for something. After a moment, he pulled out a yellow materia and switched the bike off. Throwing a leg over the seat and twisting around, he gave Laura a thorough once-over.

She leaned back a little at his intense scrutiny. _What the hell…?_ "Um, I don't mean to be rude, but what the heck are you doing, Kadaj?"

"I think you'd look better with longer hair, and better if it was blood-red."

"What?"

He held up the materia. "Disguise materia can alter you appearance to whatever you want, even to the point of gender-change. Can't turn a human into an animal or vice versa, can't alter eye color, but it's pretty good for making you look like someone else entirely for about three hours. So, let's see what we can do with ourselves!"

_How the hell did that come off as innuendo?_

He held the materia over her head, lips pursed in concentration. A second later, Laura felt a chill pass through her body and Kadaj took the materia away. He took her in again, and then grinned.

"Not as good as the original, but still pretty damn good, if I say so myself."

"What did you do to me?" Laura first noticed that her chest felt a bit heavier, and when she looked down, she saw that her breasts were practically straining out of her top. _Oh my god… I have cantaloupes on my chest!_ Then she took down her ponytail and pulled a handful of her hair into her field of view. Instead of the normal dark brown, it was currently a shockingly red color, almost a match to Reno's. It was also a few inches longer, down to about the small of her back rather than her shoulder-blades. Her skin was a little paler as well, and as she looked over her shoulder she saw that there was a tattoo of a rose twining around a katana-like sword on her arm. _Looks suspiciously like Souba, actually… Mark of ownership, perhaps?_

Then she took in her clothes, and realized that while the top was exactly the same, albeit now stomach-baring, her jeans had lost most of their length, riding high on her thighs like a pair of short-shorts. And her sneakers were now a pair of dark hiking boots, socks included.

_Has he seen pictures of Lara Croft? I must look like a cross between her, Tifa, and Reno!_

Looking up from herself, she gave Kadaj an incredulous look. "You expect me to go out in public looking like this?"

He made no effort to hide his grin, or to direct his gaze to her face rather than her chest. "You look nothing like yourself, do you? I still prefer the original you, but this works too."

"I'll get arrested!"

"Believe me, girls get away with wearing less than that around here. Junon isn't Costa del Sol, but you'll still find plenty of girls going around in little more than bikini tops and sarongs. It's the summer months, so that outfit is just fine. At the moment, you look like a sexy young archeologist."

"Kadaj!"_ How the hell has he _not_ heard of the Tomb Raider games?_

"Hey, you'll fit in. And besides, the look will only last for about three hours. Our shopping should be done by then, and we can get a room at the inn. Captain Stu never lets passengers sleep on the boat while it's docked." He held the materia over his head. "My turn now."

"Wait a minute. How difficult is it to use that materia?"

"Anybody can learn to use it. Just hold it, and think of what you want to look like. That simple."

Before he could do a thing, Laura had snatched the materia away from him and used it herself, drastically altering his appearance. Now he was about 5'8 with blond, green-streaked hair, a golden tan, and about two day's worth of yellow stubble on his now-square jawline. In place of the leather getup, he was dressed in ripped and faded blue jeans and brown boots, brown belt and big, silver buckle included. There was also a pair of sunglasses shoved into his hair, just above his forehead. As for a shirt, there was nothing; Laura had left his six-pack and pecs completely exposed. _All he needs is a cigarette and a cowboy hat, and he could pass for the Marlboro man. _

"Hey!" Kadaj glowered at her, crossing his arms over his (_very nice!_) chest and tapping his right foot. "Give me back that materia."

"Oh, don't you like it? I do." She slipped the materia into one of her pockets, giving him a blatantly sexual look, eyes lingering hungrily on the rock-hard abs. "It's not really an improvement, though, because I vastly prefer the original."

"This is not what I usually look like when I come into Junon. I'll need a new name, because this is not what 'Jadak' looks like!"

"Call yourself 'Tommy.'"

"Why Tommy?"

"You just look like a Tommy." _Or rather, like one of the male Tommy Hilfiger jeans models. _

He rolled his eyes. "This is revenge for the look I gave you, isn't it?"

"Yep, and you're not getting that materia back until we've got a hotel room." She slipped up beside him and linked her hand with one of his, giving him an appreciative, teasing grin. "Besides, you look nothing like yourself, apart from the hair-style and eyes. Who could possibly mistake 'Tommy' for 'Kadaj?' It's the perfect disguise!"

He grumbled something indecent, then led her out of the alley. "C'mon. Let's get this over with so I can get back to my old self."

It didn't take much time to get the shopping done. Kadaj actually gave her the list of books Yazoo had made, along with gil and the instructions to buy the books and then use the rest to get herself some clothes. He'd meet her at the music store, where they would get Loz's cd. Laura found it downright humorous how many admiring and jealous looks they were getting from passerby, and knew Kadaj didn't care for the attention at all.

_Must be completely unaware of the looks he'd be getting if he looked the same as always. God knows he's hot enough to get them without materia!_

Yazoo's books were pretty easy to find, and not expensive at all. Soon after purchasing them, Laura wandered down the street until she found a clothing store that appealed to her. It was a store that reminded her greatly of Hot Topic, her favorite store back home. It didn't take much time for her to select a few corsets and shirts (none of which had sayings or pictures printed across the front, much to her dismay), and a few pairs of chain-pants to go with them. The clothes fit her perfectly, and while they wiped out most of the gil, she felt they were well worth the investment.

_Kadaj is going to either hate these, or love them_, she mused. _Hell, he could probably steal and wear them if he wanted to! He looks like he's my size._

She found the cd store after a few minutes, and settled down to wait for Kadaj. When he appeared, there was a blond little bimbo following him. She was dressed in a pink sarong and bikini, and apparently asking him to the beach with her. As he was having a difficult time shaking her off (_persistent little bitch, isn't she?_), Laura decided to use her newly-acquired looks to their fullest potential.

Slinking up to them in the sexiest walk she could comfortably pull off, Laura reached out and took Kadaj's arm, wrapping her arms around it and gazing up at him with the sultriest, most convincing bedroom eyes imaginable. "Hey, Tommy," she murmured huskily, putting the slightest purr into the words. "Did you miss me?"

Kadaj looked slightly confused, but then saw that his little follower's jaw had dropped nearly to the ground, blue eyes wide in shock. _Go along with it, Kadaj…_ "Hey, baby. Do you even have to ask if I missed my gorgeous piece of ass?" he drawled, reaching around to lay a possessive hand on her posterior (_Kadaj…has his hand…on my ass. Oh my god! Tell me I am not imagining this!_) and returning the smoldering look she was giving him.

"You know my ass is yours, baby. And everything else along with it." She rose up on her toes to press a hot, open-mouthed kiss on the side of his jaw, whispering "Wanna get back to the room so I can prove it to you?"

Sneaking a peek at the bimbo revealed that her face had turned a very interesting shade of red, and her arms were crossed beneath her breasts. She was chewing her lip, and Laura through there was a good chance that she would be exploding with jealousy at any second. Inwardly, she chortled with glee. _That's right, bitch. This gorgeous hunk of male is _mine.

Kadaj turned his head so his lips were barely an inch from her own. "You know I'm always ready for your proof, baby." Then he was kissing her, this one hot, hungry, and possessive. And there was more than a little tongue involved this time. That, combined with the slow pressure of his hand squeezing the flesh of her ass, was nearly enough to knock Laura clean off her feet.

When the kiss was ended, the bimbo was still there, and it looked like she wanted to kill Laura. Kadaj gave her a satisfied look, deliberately showing his teeth. "I do not believe you have been introduced, Cissy. This is my girlfriend, Lorasa Kerr. Lorasa, this is Cissy Matthews."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Kerr," Cissy gritted out. Laura managed to suppress the urge to laugh. _Is she actually grinding her teeth? _

"The pleasure is likewise, I'm sure," she purred, her voice low in her throat. Her arms slid around Kadaj's waist and she pressed tightly against him, arching her spine so her breasts and stomach were the closest parts of her body to his. This movement had Cissy narrowing her eyes even further, until they were mere slits of jealous blue. "Now, if you don't mind, we have an…important matter to which we must attend. Isn't that right, baby?"

"You know it, baby." Kadaj gave her ass one final squeeze, then turned to leave, Laura still hanging on his arm. Just as they departed, she looked back at Cissy and threw her a seductive, suggestive wink.

And was more than pleased to see the blond bimbo absolutely _seething_.

Once they were out of sight, Laura couldn't help laughing. "Did you see the look on her face? Priceless!"

"Yeah, definitely."

There was an odd tone in Kadaj's voice that made her look at him curiously. "Is something wrong?"

"I think your act worked a bit too well, Laura." He ducked into the shadows of an overhang and pulled her against him, tight to his body. Laura's eyes widened as she felt something against her pelvis.

_Ok, that's more than a bulge. That's a full-blown erection!_

"See what you've done to me?" he said huskily.

Laura felt a certain feeling building in her groin, the pleasure of knowing that her actions had put him in this predicament. "I have this feeling I'll be seeing it soon enough." She reached down and put her hand on the bulge, putting just enough pressure on it to make him gasp and close his eyes. That done, she leaned up and whispered "How close is the inn?"

"Two blocks down," he groaned. "Too far for me to walk with this."

_Is that so?_ _Well, I know how to solve that._ She grabbed his hand and led him down the alley, stopping as soon as they had enough cover that no one from the street could spot them. "Sit down, and let me take care of that for you."

He looked a little stunned, but acquiesced, sliding to the ground with his legs straight out. Laura knelt down next to him and kissed him, hard. As their lips and tongues tangled, she slowly trailed her fingers down his naked chest and stomach before moving to the waistband of his jeans. Drawing back, looking directly into his eyes, she unzipped the zipper.

_Wow, Kadaj. So I guess it's neither boxers nor briefs for you, huh? _

He was bigger than she had anticipated. She had often spent hours with Denise just speculating about what lay beneath the pants of various Final Fantasy 7 hotties, and while both of them strongly believed that Sephiroth, Vincent, and Cloud all had big cocks, neither of them had thought the Remnants would have more than average-sized ones. _We were wrong, Denise! It ain't a ten-incher, but it's damn close!_ As her hand stroked up and down the shaft, thumb softly rubbing at the head, he broke off the kiss to lean his head back against the wall, watching her play with his cock.

Spreading the precum across the tip, she increased the speed slightly, noting how his eyes got darker as he got harder. _Let's see how dark I can get 'em…_ Dipping her head and pulling her hair back out of the way, she took him into her mouth. She couldn't see his face, but she heard his groan well enough. Inwardly crowing her victory, she set to work.

Laura would be the first to admit that she was a virgin. However, that didn't mean she hadn't done all the research she possibly could on the subject, in preparation for her first time. She probably knew more than most other virgins concerning foreplay, intercourse, and positions. More than that, she had also done a ton of research on cunnilingus and fellatio, and that reading came back to her now, as she put all her effort into her very first blowjob.

_Tongue that spot under the head… Ooo, that got a nice reaction! Try deep-throating… Hey, I didn't think I could do it! Yes! Kadaj, would you please loosen your grip on my hair? Thank you. Play with his balls… Lick up the shaft… Suck on the head… Slight jerk… Oh, so he likes a little pain with his pleasure, does he? Interesting… Try 'throating him again now._

He was now unable to keep still, moving his hips around restlessly while his hands dug into her hair. If Laura had looked up, she would have seen that his eyes were shut as tightly as possible as he concentrated on not losing it too soon.

She licked up the shaft again, pressing her tongue against the sensitive underside of the head before moving downward to lick at his balls while fisting his slick cock. Squeezing her fist slightly made his eyes fly open.

"Laura, I'm gonna…"

She understood. Moving quickly for his cock again, she took him as deep into her throat as she possibly could right before he started cumming.

_Hmm… Doesn't taste that bad, actually. Somewhere between salty and sweet. _

When he was finished, she carefully cleaned him off and rezipped his jeans, making sure that she didn't catch his cock in the zipper. _It just wouldn't do to reenact a scene straight out of _There's Something About Mary_. Not if I'm planning on getting laid anytime soon, that is. _As soon as he was decent again, Kadaj yanked her against his chest and kissed her hungrily.

"As soon as we get a room, you're mine, Laura. Mine."

_Already looking forward to it, baby. Already looking forward to it._

_Besides, you've got a promise to fulfill. Something about making me scream...?_


	11. Thank You Kyrie!

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **Well, here we are. The long-promised lemon. Man, I really hope this translated from what I had in my head to the fic accurately. And just to warn you, I take full advantage of the M rating in any lemon scene I write. So if you are not at least 18 years of age, I would highly advise turning back now. This is pretty graphic. Hey, I'm writing about Kadaj here; do you honestly think he'd do a half-assed job with anything he sets out to do? I don't!

Thank You, Kyrie!

The door of their room crashed against the wall as they stumbled in, flinging their bags to the floor and immediately devouring each other in a hungry kiss.

_If tonsil hockey was an Olympic sport… Sweet God, he'd definitely get a gold medal! No doubt at all!_

The door was kicked shut behind them, swinging closed with a loud _slam! _Kadaj's hands were deeply enmeshed in her hair, holding her face captive for his ravishment. Laura slid her fingers through his belt-loops, jerking him closer and grinding her pelvis directly against his bulge, making him groan around her lips and tongue.

By now, the materia was wearing off. Laura felt the chill envelope her body once more, a delicious sensation indeed when paired with the heat flooding through her. A moment later, she felt decidedly warmer as her clothes returned to their original state. Kadaj was suddenly back to his usual height, and the naked skin beneath her fingers was abruptly replaced by smooth leather.

_Skin. Need skin. Now!_

A soft growl of need rippled from her throat, echoed by Kadaj's muted snarl. He reached beneath her arms and grasped the bottom of her top, yanking it up and over her head before flinging it against the wall. Laura's bra didn't last long either; one quick jerk of his fingers and it was gone, torn and useless and out of sight.

He broke the kiss to stare at her breasts, reaching out a hand to softly cup one in his palm. Laura watched him hold it, her breath heaving in and out of her lungs.

Then his mouth was on her, the nipple sucked into the hot, wet cavity. She moaned and let her head fall back, fingers threading through his silky hair in an effort to prevent him from leaving her chest. She heard something hit the ground, and suddenly his fingers – his ungloved fingers – were pinching, twisting, and rolling the other nipple.

_Ohgodohgodohgodohgod…_

Heat flashed through her, and suddenly she was jerking, writhing, as her body became one big mass of nerve endings.

_Holy shit! I knew they were sensitive, but what the fuck? He hasn't even touched my clit yet!_

Kadaj had pulled away when the orgasm hit, his eyes glowing a deep, deep green. When she was finished, he smiled, an expression that was purely male.

_Almost like he's thinking 'yeah, I really am that good, baby.'_

"Get on the bed."

The order was not a forceful one, but Laura obeyed anyway. Eyes submissively downcast, she went to the bed and crawled onto it, lying back with her head propped up on the pillows.

_I want to watch this._

Kadaj walked to the foot of the bed, looking over her possessively while he kicked off his boots and pulled off her shoes. The heat of his stare was enough to make her shudder.

"Don't move."

His hands slid up her denim-clad thighs, tantalizing her until they arrived at the waistband. Spellbound, Laura could only watch as his long, clever fingers slipped the button from the hole and slid the zipper down.

A moment later, he jeans were gone and the only article of clothing left to her was her "Kiss Me, I'm Horny" panties. Kadaj looked at the black, red-stitched underwear, then raised his gaze to meet hers, a wicked grin wide across his face.

"Guess I've got to obey the panties."

"That's a rule?"

"No, but I think they speak truth." He edged his fingers beneath the soaking-wet crotch, tugging them down her legs. Laura held her breath when they were tossed aside and that yellow-green gaze returned to her sex. He was the first man to ever see her naked.

A finger delicately traced around the dark curls, then along the steaming, dripping length of her slit. Laura felt her breath explode out of her when the tip of that finger brushed over her clit, and fought to remain still.

Her eyes were riveted to that finger as it was slowly raised to his mouth, his eyes closing as he tasted her juices.

"You taste very sweet. I think I want more."

He coaxed her thighs up and apart, then made himself comfortable between them. Laura tensed as his head slowly moved closer and closer to her…

Then arched her back and gasped as his tongue touched her clit.

_Where the hell did he learn this?_ she wondered, reaching up to pinch her nipples, feeling his tongue tracing the shape, the length of her sex. A moment later that tongue was joined by his fingers, two of them pumping in and out of her virgin entrance at a torturously-slow speed. Pressure increased for a moment as he sucked hard on her clit, then delicately sank his teeth into the sensitive flesh, just hard enough that the line between pain and pleasure blurred, producing a delicious wave that washed over her in an instant.

_Holy shit! I'm cumming again!_

Shudders took over her, throwing her body every which way at once. And Kadaj stayed with her, tonguing her clit and finger-fucking her the entire time. Due to his efforts, another orgasm arrived just as the other ended, sending her body high into the air with a keening moan, fists tightly clenched into the comforter as she lost herself once more.

When the orgasm released her, she collapsed back onto the bed with a soft groan. At that point, Kadaj got off the bed and stood at the foot once more, where she would be certain to see him. Once she focused on him, he slowly reached up his body, and gripped the silver zipper. Laura sat up, hungrily watching as more and more of his pale flesh was revealed to her gaze. Once it was as far down as it would go, just beneath his navel, she got up on her knees and put her arms around his neck, kissing him as hard and passionately as she could. He returned the kiss, but took one of her hands in his, guiding it down his chest, down his abs, and into the darkened interior of the bodysuit. He hissed against her lips when she wrapped her hand around his hot, hard length.

"Blowjob again?" she gasped, feeling his hand playing with her clit.

"No. Lay down." He shoved her back onto the bed, and Laura barely had enough time to prop herself up on her elbows before he was pushing her legs apart, crawling into position above her.

_Protection, Laura? Don't you know what that is? _

_Shut up, Conscience. _

She lay down again, settling her hands at his hips and trying to relax, knowing this was going to hurt. Kadaj propped himself up on his elbows, pressing a soft kiss to her lips and gazing directly into her eyes. Laura felt pressure at her entrance and fought hard not to tense against him; she wanted this as much as he did, after all.

One inch… Two… Three…

Still, she was unable to stop herself from crying out when she felt him tear through her hymen. He didn't try to move before she was ready; he simply held her to him and waited for her to tell him it was okay to continue.

_Fucking hurts! But… It also feels really weird. But in a good way. _

_He's mine now, and I'm his. There may be other guys, but I belong to him, because he was my first. That's my blood on his cock, not some other hussy's. _

_Mine._

"Are you ok?" he asked, voice tight.

"I think so… But what about you? You don't sound ok."

"I'm fine. It's just… Holy…" He buried his face against her neck, breathing hard. "You're so damn tight…"

"Well, there's a reason for that, in case you haven't figured it out already." She moved her hips slightly, thankful that there didn't seem to be any pain now. "I think you can move now."

"Sure." He drew back his hips a little, then drove them forward until he was all the way inside her. Laura looked over his shoulder in utter shock, staring at his ass between her thighs.

_He got the whole thing inside me! Oh my god, I didn't think I could take all of him! _

Then it was all movement, and it felt _good_. Laura could suddenly understand why so many people seemed to be addicted to sex; this was better than any of the drugs she had ever tried. Kadaj had propped himself up over her on his hands, giving himself greater range of movement, and her nails were raking down the curve of his back at regular intervals. He watched her with narrowed citrine eyes, then smiled when he arched his hips to hit a certain angle inside her, making her eyes open wider than ever before.

"I promised you you'd be screaming, Laura," he said, slightly breathless. "You will be soon."

_Keep hitting that spot, and I think you might be right. _Whatever he was hitting inside her was setting off sparks in her brain with every stroke, and soon she could feel a tightening within her groin, a tingling beginning in her fingers and toes and moving slowly inward. _Is this what they mean when they say 'blow your top?' __Oh my god!_ Kadaj had slipped one hand down her body and was currently stroking her clit and the tissues stretched so tightly around him.

That was all it took. She found herself arching and screaming, her nails digging into his back so hard they broke the skin. And he didn't stop moving; he kept driving her up and up, keeping her at the peak of ecstasy for as long as possible.

"Oh! My! Fucking! God!" she screamed.

"Not a god… Just Ka…" He threw his head back. "Fuck!" Laura pulled him down on top of her as she felt something hot flow inside her, knowing that he had just cum too.

It was long, long minutes before either of them could muster the strength to move.

Kadaj rolled off her and flopped against the pillows, still breathing hard. "Damn, Laura. That was the best I've ever had."

She rolled her head to look at him. "Where the hell did you learn some of that?"

He narrowed his eyes. "How good are you at talking about past lovers?"

"I wouldn't know. You're the only lover I've ever had."

"I mean, would it bug you if I talked about another woman right now?"

"You mean Kyrie?"

"Yeah."

"No, I wouldn't mind." She rolled onto her hip, so she could face him. _And trace the muscles on his stomach a few more times… Man, I could really get used to this. _"Talk all you want. She mattered to you, so she matters to me."

He searched her face for a moment, then nodded and relaxed against the pillows. "Kyrie was several years older than I was. She was the only other clone I was allowed to interact with on a personal basis, aside from Yazoo. He and Loz were my fighting partners, but Kyrie always took Loz's place when it came to testing our reaction in simulated social settings. She and I got pretty close, and a few times we even managed to jam the security cameras and see each other unsupervised. Every time we did that, we always ended up screwing. Kyrie, it turned out, was sort of the unofficial whore of us clones. She liked sex, and was often used by the scientists for sexual studies with certain male clones. I was not one of them, but she also didn't really like those clones. I was the only one she really liked, and whenever we got together, she always taught me something new. So everything I know about sex, I picked up from her." He shrugged.

Laura rolled onto her back, looking out the window. "Thank you!" she shouted.

Kadaj looked at her, a little confused. "Why did you just thank the window?"

She smiled and rubbed his six-pack. "All the blood must still be south of your brain. I wasn't thanking the window.

"I was thanking Kyrie."


	12. Starlit Exhibitionists

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor:** Slightly angsty chapter, but with some fluff mixed in. If you can catch it, there's also a hint as to what might be coming up in this fic. And there's another lemon, this one stemming from one shot in the big fight scene with Cloud before Kadaj gets turned into Sephiroth. You know what I'm talking about, right? That bit where he spins Souba around right next to his hip; always makes me shake his head and go "what a showoff." So it only follows that he might be an exhibitionist, as he's certainly got the pride to stand there and show everybody and their mothers what he can do to his woman. And to that point, I agree with one of my faithful reviewers: after spending so much time in the labs, he's probably totally comfortable with his body. Nudity won't bother him that much, as long as nobody can see those tattoos of his. So here, for your imaginative pleasure, is a round of window-sex!

Starlit Exhibitionists

Laura woke up to the stars glimmering through the windows, cold and shining as they never were back in Manhattan. Careful not to wake Kadaj, she slipped from the bed and over to the window, wrapping the spare afghan around her as she went.

_So beautiful. And so many! Jeez, they don't have a problem with light pollution here, do they?_

A feeling of homesickness washed over her as she realized that she was unable to identify any of the constellations glittering above Junon. _No Orion… No Big Dipper… No Draco… They don't have the same stars here. _

_Even if I do manage to get home, I won't be able to look at the night sky and think 'we could be looking at the same star.' Wherever Gaia is, it's not in the Milky Way. _

_And by the same token, neither am I._

_I bet you can't even see Earth from here…_

"Laura?" A pair of arms slid around her from behind, and she relaxed against a hot wall of solid muscle with a soft sigh. Warm lips pressed against her jaw. "What's wrong?"

"It just occurred to me, how far I am from home." Her hand slid down to cover his, eyes still glued to the sky. "Gaia doesn't have the same stars as Earth. Wherever it is, it's not in the Milky Way Galaxy."

"'Milky Way?' There are thousands of names they could have called it, and they chose 'Milky Way?'" Kadaj laughed softly, still holding her against him. "Why?"

"To tell you the truth, I have no idea. What galaxy is Gaia in, anyway?"

"We don't know what our galaxy looks like. We haven't gotten much into space yet."

"Earth has. We've even managed to put people on the moon, and sent satellite probes out into deep space."

"That must be awesome." He gently stroked his thumb over her skin, pulling her afghan off with the other. "When I was little, I always wanted to see what was out there. To leave Gaia behind and see outer space with my own eyes. It was my biggest dream for the longest time."

"I always wanted to see what was out there, too." She smirked and shook her head ruefully. "I guess in coming here, I have. Sort of."

Kadaj squeezed her softly. "I wish I could see your world."

"I wish you could, too. Earth is so similar to Gaia, but so very different at the same time. No Lifestream, for example."

"No Shinra?"

"No Shinra."

They watched the stars for a long while, Laura feeling so content, so safe, in Kadaj's arms.

_Careful, girl. You're starting to sound like you're falling in love with him. _

_So what if I am?_

_Don't do something you'll regret. What if he doesn't have the capacity to love?_

_Then just shut up and let me pretend that he does._

_Aren't you a little old for make-believe?_

_Shut up, conscience. _

A streak of silver light sped across the sky, zooming to parts unknown. _A shooting star. I've never seen one before. _

"Make a wish, Laura," Kadaj whispered. "I already made mine."

She smiled and closed her eyes, relaxing even further as she felt his heat-beat against her back. _I wish to stay with him, keep him safe from Jenova, for the rest of my life._

He brushed his lips against her jaw again. "What did you wish for?"

She laughed. "If I told you, it wouldn't come true!"

His belly bounced against her back as he echoed her mirth. "I guess you're right." His hand slid down to disappear between her legs, eliciting a soft gasp from the woman in his arms. "You're still wet."

She rubbed her posterior teasingly against his groin, pleased to hear his low groan. "Are you trying to give me a hint?"

"Just can't get enough of you, I guess." Hands roamed across her body, stoking the fires of her passion anew. "Any objections?"

"None," she breathed. "Bed?"

"No. Stay right here." She shivered as a series of hot, open-mouthed kisses was pressed against her neck and shoulder.

"But… People can see us." Her arms reached back, tangling in his hair and holding him to her.

"Let them look. Let them see what I'm doing to you." His fingers gently pinched her clit, making her tilt her head back against his shoulder on a moan.

_I knew he was a show-off. But an exhibitionist? Never would've guessed it._

"Lift your leg," he whispered, slipping his fingers in and out of her while his thumb massaged her clit. Laura obeyed, lifting her leg and putting it up on the window-sill. Kadaj pushed her gently, making her raise her hands to brace herself against the window.

_Holy shit… If anyone was to look up or across the street… _The thought of strangers watching them fuck was a strangely alluring one, sending a shiver down her spine and straight into her groin. _Dear god, I'm an exhibitionist too!_

But that didn't matter when she felt a hand rest against her back, felt the stretching of her inner walls as he pushed his cock inside her. This time there was no pain, no resistance.

"Laura…" he breathed, hands holding her hips steady while he took her from behind, the pace slow and easy. She whimpered, pressing harder against the glass when he hit that amazing spot inside her.

_Don't stop. Never stop._

As if he had read her mind, he kept going, even as his hands squeezed and pinched her breasts and nipples, as his lips pressed hotly against her back and shoulder.

"God, Kadaj…" One hand left the glass and slipped down her body, feverishly massaging her clit. Her hips arched back to meet him, and the movement drew a soft gasp from her lover. His teeth sank into her shoulder, and she groaned in response, her head falling back. Involuntary surrender.

_I belong to you._

He never deviated from the pace he had set, keeping the rhythm slow and deep. Laura discovered that she liked this better than the almost animalistic overtones their lovemaking had taken on before. With every movement, she could feel his passion reaching out to her, the need for human contact that his brothers could not fulfill. He needed her as desperately as she needed him. But he was also holding back, as if he was afraid using his full strength would hurt her.

It was both profoundly touching and deeply annoying.

_Does he think I can't take his full strength? That I will break if he puts his back into it? Well, I _am_ sorry, but I'm a lot tougher than I look!_

"You're holding back," she moaned. "Stop it."

His teeth tightened, making her shiver.

"I mean it. I…" _Oh god, that was a good one!_ "I'm tougher…than you give me credit for. So..." She straightened, wrapping her hands backwards around his neck, digging her fingers into his hair. "Give it to me. All of it. _Now._"

At the same time, she tightened her inner walls around him. _Thank you, kegals!_

And he responded.

The pace was still slow, still tightly-controlled, but now his thrusts were deeper, more powerful than any he had given her before. His arm wrapped around her waist, securing her to him, and the opposite one joined her hand in forcefully teasing her clit. In retaliation, she tightened around him every time he was all the way inside her.

_God, he's got control! What does it take to make him…_

"Oh my _GOD!_" she screamed as the orgasm caught up with her. If she had believed the previous ones were strong, then this one was beyond her ken. It was so strong, she literally saw stars and fireworks exploding before her eyes.

And Kadaj lost it the moment she did, his teeth drawing blood from her shoulder as he arched into her, loosing his seed when he was as deep as he could possibly go. Together, at the same time, they found their ecstasy.

_No, not ecstasy._

_This has to be…_

Perfection.


	13. One Woman's Choice

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **So here's the next chapter. It's the big reveal-most chapter I'm sure several of you have been expecting, and of course, there's some fluff and angst mixed in. Plus the general sarcasm that always seems to appear whenever Laura is thinking. Is it just me, or does it seem like Kadaj already knows, to a certain extent, what's going to happen to him in Advent Children? Maybe it's just me, but he always seems to give off this vibe that says "I know I'm going to turn into Sephiroth, and there's nothing I can do about it." Or maybe that's just me being cynical. I dunno. Regardless, if anybody else gets that feeling, this might be just how he found out about his ultimate fate, for all we know. Read on and review if you don't mind! Reviews keep the writer posting!

One Woman's Choice Can Change the Course of a World

When Laura awoke, she found that the light of the rising sun was streaming through the windows directly into her eyes and Kadaj was sleeping on top of her again. She smiled down at him, softly tracing meaningless trails up and down his naked back with her fingertips, the other hand twined with his by their sides. He had taken her hand just as she was dozing off last night, and it seemed that the connection had been retained throughout their sleep.

_A sign, perhaps?_

Laura had no idea how they had managed to get onto the bed, much less beneath the covers. After that round of mind-blowing window-sex, they had fallen to the floor, her back against his chest and his arms around her, still connected at the most intimate physical level. Her last memory of the previous night was of relaxing against him and his taking of her hand, a gentle kiss being pressed to her temple as sleep rolled over her.

A thought struck her as she watched him sleep, fully conscious of the warmth invading her left breast, the odd, fluttery feeling in her stomach.

_I love him. _

There was no shock, no disbelief. Not even a '_you must be crazy!_' from her mouthy, sensible side. There was only acceptance of a truth as real as the silver-haired man atop her. She loved him, no matter how little sense it made.

And she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he loved her in return.

_Actions truly speak louder than words. Especially the little ones. And he's made plenty of those. Not only last night, but ever since I got here. _

A thought struck her then, one that terrified her.

_What if my love isn't enough? Enough to keep him out of Jenova's clutches?_

_There is so much at stake now. Not only his sanity and his life. Not only the lives and sanity of his brothers. Not only all those people who will die from Geostigma, from the attack on Edge. _

_My life, our love, and anything that might come out of it, will be lost if I should fail. _

_Jenova... _

_I would kill you if I could. Put you in a blender, drop-kick you into outer space, chuck you into the hottest fire imaginable... Anything to stop you from hurting him, from _using_ him. _

_Kadaj is not Sephiroth, and he never will be. Sephiroth is _dead_. Can't you understand that, you bitchy little manipulative worm? You can't bring back someone who is already gone!_

"Laura? Are you ok?"

She was suddenly aware of a pair of yellow-green eyes staring at her, their expression soft and curious. "Yes, Kadaj. I'm fine."

He reached his free hand up to gently cup her cheek; Laura leaned her face into his soft, warm palm. "You were snarling."

"It's nothing."

He snorted softly, bracing himself on his forearm and bringing their entwined hands up to press a kiss to her knuckles. "You know I hate liars, Laura."

_To tell him or not to tell him? That is the question!_

"Kadaj... How devoted are you to Jenova?"

His gaze snapped up to her own, surprise written across his features. "What do you mean?"

"Do you have any idea what will happen to you if you find her? What will happen to Loz and Yazoo?"

He laid his head back down on her chest, where she couldn't see his face. "Laura, I'd do anything to shut up the voices in my head. I just want to be left in peace, in control of my own body and thoughts. That's it."

"Then why do you think of her as your mother? Do you even know the truth of Sephiroth's origins, the truth behind his birth?"

"What does he have to do with this?" he asked, his voice taking on a defensive tone.

"More than you might suspect. Far more."

Laura laid her head back on the pillows, trying to sort out the tangled threads of the story in her head so they would make sense to him. "From what I understand, Sephiroth's birth certificate lists Jenova as his mother, with the father unknown. That record is totally inaccurate. In truth, his conception was the result of one woman's choice between two men. One of these men was Professor Hojo. The other was a member of the Turks assigned to act as her bodyguard, a man named Vincent Valentine. Does that name ring any bells?"

Kadaj was silent for a moment, then "Wasn't he one of the members of AVALANCHE?"

"Yes. Vincent was also the other man vying for this woman's affections. But she chose Hojo out of guilt rather than love, because her research had resulted in the death of Vincent's father, a fellow professor and close friend of hers named Grimoire Valentine. Vincent reminded her too much of his father, and so she distanced herself from him, despite the love they shared.

"One of them, it is unclear whether it was Vincent or Hojo, impregnated her. And she willingly volunteered her unborn child for an experiment Professors Hojo and Gast were involved with, entitled 'the Jenova Project.' The child was injected with Jenova cells, a massive amount of them. They bonded with the existing human cells and transformed the fetus, turning it into a hybrid completely unlike any child ever seen on Gaia.

"That child was Sephiroth. And his mother was not, and never was, Jenova. She was a Class A scientist of Shinra, specializing in biotechnology. Her name..." Laura took a deep breath, praying that he was listening and would believe her.

"...was Dr. Lucrecia Crescent."

Kadaj was quiet, then hesitently spoke. "What happened to her?"

Laura sighed. _At least he's willing to listen to the rest of the story. _"Lucrecia's is not a happy story. As far as I can tell, Hojo took Sephiroth from her immediately after she gave birth, so he was denied the first touch of his mother, the chance to create a mother-son bond with her. Soon afterward, Hojo shot and nearly killed Vincent, and it was only because of Lucrecia's efforts that he survived. But the stress of his brush with death, and the pain of never seeing her own son, was too great. After leaving a copy of her records and research for Vincent to find, she journeyed to an underwater cavern that Grimoire had shown her, a cavern with a massive mako fountain inside. She sealed her body inside the fountain; basically, she commited suicide. Sephiroth was told that Jenova was his mother by Hojo, whom we both know was a raving lunatic. It was the one truth he clung to, when in fact it was no more than a lie. So when he discovered the documents beneath Shinra Manor, Jenova was able to take over his mind.

"From that point on, Sephiroth was no longer Sephiroth; he was merely her puppet. And now she is trying to do the exact same thing to you and your brothers." She raised his head gently, so she could look into his eyes. "If she succeeds, all three of you will die. Sephiroth will be resurrected, and Jenova will abandon you in favor of him.

"I don't want that to happen, Kadaj. I don't want her machinations to kill you."

_Please believe me._

_Please._

Kadaj searched her face for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Then he sighed and laid his head back own, his ear against her heart. "I think I believe you. You have no reason to lie to me. And... Somehow, I know you speak the truth."

They lay on the bed, silent, for a long while.

"Laura, say you won't leave me. I promise I won't leave you." There was a subtle desperation in his voice, almost undetectable. But Laura heard it nonetheless.

She closed her eyes, stroking his back soothingly. "I can't control circumstances, Kadaj. But I can promise you one thing: I will never, ever leave you of my own free will. I could never leave someone I love."

There was a stunned silence, then Kadaj lifted his head, staring into her azure eyes with shock. "You...love me?"

Laura nodded. "Yes, Kadaj. It's true. I love you."

He stared at her, then his lips were on hers and he was kissing her quickly, passionately. And between each kiss, he was gasping out a word. "I." Kiss. "Love." Kiss "You." Kiss. "Too." Kiss. "Holy take." Kiss "Me, but." Kiss. "I." Kiss. "Love you."

**Kiss. **

_I knew it! IknewitIknewitIknewit! _

By the time they got out of bed, it was close to midafternoon, time to catch their ship.

_Captain Stu is going to kill us..._


	14. I Just Read the Articles!

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **Back to the Forgotten City. I was going to put a scene in with Captain Stu and them just barely catching the boat before it left, but for some reason I just couldn't get it to work. So you're going to just have to imagine the chewing-out ol' Stu gave our daring duo. But what I had down for that part was, to say the least, graphic. I think Stu might actually cuss more than Cid does! Anyways, I might say what Loz and Yazoo were doing in Kadaj's absence in another chapter, but for now, you'll just have to imagine it yourself. However, contrary to what those of you who like the Loz/Yazoo pairing might think, it was not sex. Sorry, but I'm not a big fan of incest. And seeing as how they are clones, that's kinda like having sex with yourself! I have nothing against yaoi, but brotherly incest is just taking it way too far. In fact, as we shall soon see, I do not think Yazoo is a big fan of sexual relations at all...

I Just Read the Articles!

Laura was thrilled to be back in the Forgotten City. Despite their inital fear of having missed the boat, Captain Stu had brought them back after making their ears bleed, and now the ethereal city was in sight. Kadaj pulled to a stop outside the house where he and his brothers were staying and hopped off the bike. Laura slid off after him, bags in her arms. It still amazed her that he had never lost control of the bike, despite the number of plastic and paper bags she was weighed down by. "Brothers! We're back!" he called.

"Kadaj! Laura!" Loz came running out of the front door, followed by a more sedately-paced Yazoo. "How was your trip? Did you get my cd? Did you have a good time?"

"Hey guys. Yes, we had a good time." Laura rested her burden on the ground, exchanging a knowing smile with Kadaj. "It was wonderful."

If Loz caught the innuendo, he gave no sign of it. Instead, he tackled the slender woman, bearing her to the ground in a bone-crushing hug. "I missed you!"

"Ugh! Kadaj... Yazoo... Little help...here!" she gasped. _Is he even aware of his own strength? God, it feels like my whole torso is being turned into pulp!_

"Loz, you're going to break her ribs!" The meathead was suddenly yanked back off her by his brothers, allowing Laura to breathe again.

"Thank...you..." she panted. Yazoo offered her a hand, having kicked his older brother in the rump, and helped her to her feet.

"Forgive him. He is too stupid to realize how strong he is."

"S'alright. I know." She bent over and began picking up the fallen bags, happy that nothing had been broken or cracked. "We got your books for you."

"Thank you." The long-haired Remnant peered into the bag in question, a soft smile gracing his lips as he beheld the paperbacks therein. "You have no idea how many times I've gone through the books here."

"I believe I can imagine." She looked over to Kadaj, who was currently wrestling with his oldest brother. Loz had him in a head-lock at the moment. "Hey, would you two break it up and help us get these bags into the house?"

"Sure, if you'll hold on a moment." Kadaj reached a hand around, the limb disappearing behind his body. Seconds later, Loz gave a high-pitched scream, and abruptly released his little brother to cradle his injured crotch. Laura felt a little sorry for him when she saw that there were tears in his eyes.

_And it is for reasons such as this that Loz will be totally unable to reproduce, should the opportunity ever arise. _

Kadaj got up and brushed himself off, strolling over to his amused brother and lover to help retrieve the bags. Laura leaned over to him as they began walking towards the house.

"You do realize that you have utterly crushed his chances of ever having kids, right?"

"Such was my intention." Kadaj winked at her and kicked a chair out of the way, allowing the trio to pass into the storage area without hindrance. "No girl should ever be forced to have Loz's babies."

"I agree. One of him is _more_ than enough," Yazoo said. "Here, you unload the bags, and we'll put the stuff away."

"So what happened here while we were gone?" Laura inquired, setting the bags up on the stone table in the middle of the room and beginning to root through them, pulling out various objects and laying them on the smooth surface for the men to retrieve.

"Um, Laura? Maybe I should take that one." Kadaj reached for the paper bag she currently had in front of her, but she swatted at his hands.

"Why? Is there something you'd like to..." Her voice trailed off as she reached the bottom of the bag, and saw what the food had been concealing. _My, my, my, Kadaj. So this is what you meant by 'magazines.' _She pulled out three glossy mags, and began reading through the features listed on the front of each one. "'Blonde, Busty, and Dangerous: An Interview with Elena of the Turks'... 'The Girls of AVALANCHE'... 'Yuffie Kisaragi Bares It All'..." _Oh, how much does this photographer want to die? Because he definately will if Cloud sees this magazine!_ "'Through the Window: Cloud and Tifa's Wild Romp Between the Sheets.'" She raised amused eyes to look at her lover, who was currently the color of a beet. "I admire your taste in reading material, Kadaj."

"I just read them for the articles!" he protested.

"_Sure_ you do." She flipped through _Voyeur _to the section about Cloud and Tifa, and let out a low, admiring whistle. "Wow. I never knew Cloud was so well-built..."

"Give me thaaaat!" He snatched the magazines away from her and hugged them to his chest, reminiescent of a child keeping his favorite toy away from an older, meaner sibling. "All right, I admit it. I read porn! Is that so wrong?"

"No, it's not. I wouldn't mind taking a look at those with you, actually." Laura slinked over to him and walked her fingers up his naked arm, leaning in close to him. "Who knows? Maybe I'll be..._inspired."_

His eyes flickered with interest, and he snaked out an arm to wrap it around her waist. "So you're a naughty girl, huh? Care to share some of that naughtiness with me?"

"You know a naughty girl's got to have a bad, _bad_ boy to keep her in top condition," she purred.

"Oh, puh-_leeeze_. Get a room, you two," Yazoo said, rolling his eyes.

"You're gonna scream," Kadaj taunted, a smile widening across his face.

"Not if you don't first," she shot back.

Yazoo suddenly moved, grabbing the scruffs of their necks and dragging them upstairs. Upon reaching Kadaj's room he kicked the door open and threw them both in, slamming the door shut after them. "If you're going to have wild, passionate sex, at least do it where I can't see you!"

This sent Laura and Kadaj into gales of laughter. The Remnants' leader crawled over to his lover, resting his head against her stomach while he howled with laughter. His hair tickled her where her mesh shirt and baby-T had ridden up, making her laugh all the harder.

_Who would have guessed that Kadaj was such a pervert, and Yazoo such a prude? _Her laughter faded as she smiled down at him lovingly. _But he's _my_ pervert._

She spotted the magazines and flipped _Voyeur_ open again, this time to a second photographic spread involving Reno and a woman she didn't recognize. The raw sexuality of the pictures suddenly made her very, very horny. _Damn, looks like Denise and I were right about Reno. That's a package if I've ever seen one!_

"Hey, Kadaj. Look." When he lifted his head, she tapped one of the pictures, in which Reno was doing the woman up against a wall with her ankles crossed and locked behind his neck. "Think we can do that?"

He eyed the picture thoughtfully for a moment, then turned a smoldering gaze upon her, making her shiver. "Wanna try it?"

"Hell yeah." They stood up, already tugging at assorted zippers and straps.

"Wanna confuse Loz and piss off Yazoo at the same time?"

"Fuck, _yes._"

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

When the noise started upstairs - a myriad of moans, muted screams, things falling off the walls and shelves, cries of "Oh my god _KADAJ!_" and "Give it to me, baby! Give it to me!" (the latter coming from both the people in question), and a whole range of strange thumping noises - Yazoo sighed and went to look for his ear plugs.

It was going to be a loooong night.


	15. Walking a Thin Line

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **Well, here is another humorous chapter. Worry not, the angst shall return soon enough. But right now, we merely have another hilarious situation involving Laura and the SHM. Oh, and for those of you wondering in the last chapter about the authenticity of the pictures mentioned in _Voyeur_, let's just say that there were long-ranged camera lenses involved in the attainment of said pictures. After all, don't you thing that famous faces such as Cloud, Tifa, and Reno would have stalkarazzi of their own? Just because they ain't in Advent Children doesn't mean they don't have them! And really, why wouldn't Reno have just picked some random woman out of the bars and screwed her? A lot of people seem to agree with me in saying that that sounds like something he'd do. Oh, and sorry about the crappy sparring sequence. I've never had the privilege of martial arts training, so I kinda had to fudge this in order to make it work. And there's angry sex in here. It's pretty graphic, to say the least. Just thought I'd warn ya.

Walking a Thin Line

Duck, punch, block, kick. Block, block, block, kick.

_Never thought I'd be able to keep up with Loz. Never would have dreamed it, in fact!_

Laura was currently sparring with the eldest Remnant in front of the house, with Yazoo and Kadaj watching and throwing catcalls and praise. She had been looking for a good sparring partner for quite a while, fearing that her ju-jitsu was becoming rusty. Yazoo was normally Loz's sparring partner, but he had willingly stepped aside so Laura could take on his brother.

They had gone four rounds already. Loz had won all of them, but Laura was getting a better measure of his abilities. She suspected he had a weakness, and knew she could exploit it to win. If she could figure out what it was, that was…

She ducked another punch by dropping vertical to the ground on her hands and shoulders, then snapped her spine so she launched herself right back to her feet, aiming another punch directly at his groin. Loz managed to get his jewels out of mortal danger, and tried to hit her again.

_His style centers more around punching rather than kicking. Maybe I can use that to my advantage…_

She blocked that punch the snapped her foot up and out, driving her foot into his stomach. Loz predictably folded, and that foot came up again, connecting solidly beneath his chin and sending him flying. _I may not be able to do Tifa's flip-kick, but I manage. Pretty darn well, if their whistling is any indicator._

"Very good, Laura. But he could have had you if you had kept hesitating like that," Yazoo coached. "Remember: you won't win if you hesitate. Loz can take whatever you throw at him. Don't hold back!"

_Who the hell does he think he is; my old sensei or someone? He relies more on Velvet Nightmare than his fists!_

Loz got up and resumed his combat stance, looking somehow incomplete without his customary weapon. Since this was mere sparring rather than actual fighting, he had removed his Dualhound and left it in his brothers' care. Laura was thankful that such was the case; she didn't know if she could survive a fully-charged hit from that nasty weapon. Loz was a tough opponent even when he wasn't using it.

"Watch out for that left hook, Laura!" Kadaj called.

She nodded, and waited for her opponent to make the first move, fists at the ready.

Loz did not disappoint. He raced for her, fist already poised to drive her into the ground. She dropped to the ground, snapping both feet out as she fell. _Let this work, let this work, let this work!_

This resulted in the Remnant flying back a few feet and curling up in the dirt like an overcooked shrimp, a high-pitched whimpering emitting from his throat at regular intervals.

Laura paused, wondering if he was okay, then whirled around in surprise as Kadaj and Yazoo began applauding her.

"Way to go, Laura! He's down for the count!" Her lover whistled through two fingers, a wild contrast to Yazoo's polite clapping.

"Thanks, guys. Loz, are you okay?" she called, concerned. He still hadn't gotten up.

Her only reply was another whine, then a high-pitched "No."

Cautiously, she approached the spike-haired Remnant. _He might just be putting on an act to attack me when my defense is down. _"Can I get you something?"

"Don't touch me, you meanie!"

"Don't act like a baby, Loz." She turned to look at the younger brothers, kneeling beside him. "Can you guys get me an ice pack and some duct tape? I think he's more hurt than I intended him to be."

They exchanged glances, then Yazoo went into the house while Kadaj joined her in looking at Loz. "You all right, brother?"

"Hurts," Loz whimpered.

"Well, if he couldn't reproduce before, he definitely can't now," he quipped. "Don't worry, Loz. Yazoo will have some ice for you, as soon as he finds that material and freezes some water. And breaks it up and puts it in a bag."

"Doesn't help."

"Hey, it'll at least numb the pain and let you start healing. And I'm sorry, ok?" Laura said, stroking his hair comfortingly. It was as stiff and hard with gel as she had expected.

Loz rolled his head to look at her. "Nobody's ever apologized to me before."

_Why am I not surprised? _"Well, I am. I hope you can forgive me."

He put his head back down in its former position, curling up a little tighter. "I'll think about it."

"Here's the ice," Yazoo proclaimed, returning and handing Laura a plastic bag filled with frozen chunks of water and a roll of silvery tape.

"Loz, will you roll onto your back and spread your legs, please?" she asked.

"No. It fucking hurts!"

"I know it hurts. But it's not going to get any better until I put this ice on your crotch. So roll over already!"

He shook his head violently. "Get away from me, you evil, evil woman!"

She sighed, taking the insult in stride. She'd been called worse things before, on many separate occasions. "Kadaj? Yazoo? Little help please?"

They nodded and grabbed their older brother, rolling him onto his back and yanking his legs apart, pinning his arms with their legs. Loz howled at the aggravation to his injury, gaining him a smack across his leather-clad six-pack from Laura.

"Hold still and this will be over soon, you big baby," she scolded, reaching for the zipper that held his bodysuit together. Kadaj frowned and Loz struggled when she yanked it down, pulling the leather further down his body so the injured part was exposed to sunlight.

_I'd say it's nice, but it's all purple and mottled and shit. Not a nice way to introduce your trouser snake to a gal; not a good first impression at all. _

"Laura!" Loz yelped. "Pull that back up!"

"And leave you in pain? I don't think so."

"But it's embarrassing!"

"Loz, it's not like I'm going to have sex with you. All I'm going to do is put a fucking ice pack on your half-dead dick. So hold still, shut up, and let me do this!" Ignoring Loz's protests and trusting his brothers to hold him down, she began tearing off strips of tape and strapping them onto one side of the bag. Once that was done, she looked at her accomplices. "Hold him steady. This'll make him buck." In response, they sat on his arms harder and drew his legs back as hard as they could.

"The patient is ready, Dr. Laura," Kadaj said, smirking down at his wide-eyed older brother.

"Thank you, Nurse Kadaj." That remark made him scowl, and Yazoo chuckled softly. "My thanks to you as well, Nurse Yazoo." The chuckle was immediately replaced with a glare, but Laura didn't notice. She had stretched the ice pack out and was currently lowering it between Loz's legs.

The moment it touched his crotch, Loz shrieked and started fighting again. Kadaj and Yazoo were just barely able to hold him down, and urgently implored the woman to hurry up. Laura was already going as fast as she could, arranging the ice pack so it covered the entirety of his dick and sac, and pressing down the duct tape so it lay smoothly against his groin. Then she tore off a few more strips and taped them on, making absolutely sure the ice pack wouldn't move. Sitting back on her heels, she surveyed her work with a critical eye.

_Gonna hurt like a bitch when he tries to get the tape off, but at least it'll stay in place. _"Okay, guys. You can let him up now. Loz, leave that ice pack in place. It'll make sure there's not too much swelling, and numb the area so the pain will go away. Still, I'd advise you to abstain from jacking off for a few days, ok?"

As Kadaj and Yazoo stood up, he gave her a confused look. "What's 'jacking off?'"

All three of them rolled their eyes. "She means no touching your dick until you're healed, Loz." Kadaj grabbed her arm and began leading her away into the woods. "And please, for the love of Holy, pull that zipper back up. None of us want to see that!"

Laura was hard-pressed to keep up with him, because he was basically dragging her behind him. "Kadaj, slow down!"

He stopped beside a patch of tall grass surrounding a single tree, yanking her in close to him. There was an angry fire in his yellow-green eyes. "Say you like me more than my brother."

"What?" she asked, confused by his sudden change of mood.

"Say it!"

"Kadaj, you know I like you more than I like Loz. You're the one I love, not him!"

"Then why were you smiling when you saw him?"

"But I wasn't…" Her eyes widened suddenly as she thought back. _Oh no… I was smiling, wasn't I? But that was just because that situation was damned ridiculous!_ "Kadaj, no! It wasn't like that!"

"You know I hate liars, Laura." His face was only inches away from hers, the fury in his eyes extremely obvious as such close range. "_And you're lying to me._"

"Kadaj, I was smiling because…" But he didn't want to listen to her. He was already tearing off her clothes and forcing her back against the tree, so full of rage that he scared her. "Kadaj, stop. Wait a minute! Stop!"

"You're mine, Laura. _Mine_! Do you understand that? You belong to me!" There were tears in his eyes now, angry tears.

_Oh shit… I never thought he'd think… I'd never betray you, Kadaj! Especially not with one of your brothers!_

She was totally naked now, and Kadaj wrapped his fist in her hair, yanking her head down for a passionate, forceful kiss (_reasserting his ownership. He's marking his territory, which means me_) and then back to expose her throat. Laura gasped when his lips feasted on the tender flesh, followed immediately by a hard bite. She knew she's have a mark to show when he was finished, as he must have intended. Kadaj was a fan of biting, but he usually didn't leave them where someone could easily see them. _He wants Yazoo and Loz to see that one, wants to show them that I am his. _

She could only gasp and hold onto the ghost-pale bark of the tree as he dropped to his knees, taking her hips in a vice-like grip and holding her steady while he ravished her with his tongue. He licked, sucked, bit, and stroked every inch of her slit, until she was screaming for him to fuck her. But he didn't obey; he just kept driving her onward, skillfully keeping her dancing between pleasure and pain while holding ecstasy just out of her reach. He punished her with that which she loved, torturing her until she was crying for him.

"Kadaj, _please!_ Don't do this to me! Fuck me already!"

He drew back to look at her, his eyes still wet and full of mingled hurt and rage. "Do you promise you'll never look at another man ever again? Including my brothers?"

"Yes, I swear I won't! I promise!" It didn't matter what she was agreeing to, as long as he gave her the climax he had so long denied her. "Just let me _cum!_" she wailed.

He ripped the zipper of his bodysuit down and pulled out his erection, standing up and pressing against her so it was hot and threatening between their stomachs. "You are mine. Mine, Laura! Never forget that!"

"I won't forget it! I won't! I promise I won't! Just fuck me already!"

"Tell me what you want, Laura," he demanded. "Tell me!"

"I want you to put that thick cock in my little pussy! I want you to fuck me right against this tree! I want to feel your jizz in my tight little cunt! I want you to make me cum!" She let him see the tears in her eyes. "I want _you,_ Kadaj! You and nobody else! Only you!"

He smiled at her. She knew it was supposed to be cruel, but the pain in his eyes, the desperate need for her love and reassurance, told her otherwise. She had hurt him by smiling at Loz, as unintentional as it had been. She wanted to tell him she was sorry, but knew he wouldn't accept that right now. He was too busy establishing his dominance over her. "That's a good little slut. Now hold still while I fuck that little cunt of yours raw!"

She nearly screamed when he rammed into her. It was a mixture of pain and pleasure unlike any she had ever experienced before, almost too much for her to bear. But he didn't give her a chance to adjust. He shoved into her as hard and fast as he possibly could, his nails digging into her hips so she stayed completely still. All the while, his eyes were locked onto hers, allowing her to see the tears streaming from the citrine orbs.

The orgasm was fast in coming, and soon followed by another as he kept going. It was as painful as it was pleasurable, and finally she found herself screaming for him to just let go, and stop torturing her.

At last, he ejaculated into her. As soon as he was finished, he pulled out of her and stumbled away, sitting on the dirt and drawing his legs up against his chest, crying into his knees. Laura clearly heard his words through his sobs.

"Don't leave me, Laura… Don't abandon me… Don't leave me to her…"

As much as it hurt to walk, she made her way over to him and wrapped her arms around him. He buried his face in her chest, sobbing as hard as his body would let him, and she held him to her as he poured out his pain.

_I won't leave you, Kadaj. I promise I won't. _

_I'll never leave you. _


	16. Mother's Blessing

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away. I also don't own The Princess Bride.

**Queen's Quornor: **This chapter is kinda broken up. I am fully aware of this, but it just wasn't cooperating with me. This was the closest I could get to a compromise. Oh, and before any of you ask, I am pretty damn sure there are no washing machines or dryers in the Forgotten City. As for Kadaj's limit break in here, I had to wing that. I think he might have been trying to use one on Cloud right before he nearly gets flung over the side in Advent Children, so I used that as a base and went from there. Sorry it's been a few days; wasn't allowing me to upload for some weird reason. Just in case that happens again, expect updates under similarly-named stories from my other account, kadajsqueenofthenight. Figures that the problem is solved _after_ I create a second account, doesn't it? Oh, and the bishop referred to herein is the lisping one from The Princess Bride.

Mother's Blessing

"Ah-choo!"

Laura sniffed and scrubbed her nose with the back of her hand violently, attempting to aleiviate the itching sensation currently plaguing it. Her chore for the day was a simple one: sweep and dust the house. Loz had assured her that it would not be a difficult one, as it had only been a week since he had done the same.

Laura's faith in Loz's statement was rapidly draining along with her nose.

_He couldn't have cleaned in here last week. Hell, he couldn't even have cleaned in here the week prior to that! There is like a foot of dust on the floor!_

Angrily, she stuffed the dust rag into the back pocket of her jeans, grabbed the broom, and began sweeping at the floor. But this only resulted in a massive cloud of dust getting kicked up, causing her to sneeze uncontrollably.

"Ah-choo! Ah-choo! Ah-choo! Ah-choo!

"Ah-CHOO!"

"You all right, Laura?" Yazoo walked in, seemingly unaffected by the grey fog currently filling the small room.

"No." She sniffed again and rubbed her eyes, aware that she sounded like she had the worst cold in the world. "I hab a dust allergy, and dis roob isn't helping. _Ah-choo_!"

"Well, how about switching me chores? I have to wash and dry the clothes today..."

Laura had already thrust the broom and rag into his hands and fled the room, glad for any reason to escape the Evil Room of Perpetual Dustiness. _Evil, evil room, filling my nasal passages with dust and making me sneeze like I'll never stop... Evil room... Aw hell, just get me out of here!_

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

The SHM did not do their laundry in the same pool where Aerith's body had been laid to rest. There was another, smaller pond on the outskirts of the city that they used for their non-leather articles of clothing. Laura made her way to this pond and sighed when she saw all of the undershirts, sleep-shirts, and boxers scattered along the banks, alongside her own dirty laundry.

_Well, at least their leather outfits are brushed and oiled. So all I have to worry about are the underthings. _

_Joooooyyy. _

Grabbing one of her shirts, she went over to the large sandstone they used for scrubbing and knelt down to get the tank-top wet. Then she worked some soap into the cotton and began vigorously rubbing it against the rock. Once a good lather had been worked up, she dunked it back in the water and swirled it around until all of the suds were gone. That done, she carried it over to one of the low-slung tree-branches and flopped it over the limb to dry.

_Let's see. The cotton boxers belong to Loz, Yazoo wears the silk ones, and Kadaj goes commando. The undershirts belong to the two older guys, and all three of them own the sleep-shirts. Everything else belongs to me. _

_Hmmm... Wonder if some of those items had anything to do with Yazoo's sudden desire to swap chores?_ _Maybe he got the idea that one of his brothers was secretly a crossdresser..._

She snickered at the idea of Loz wearing one of her silk thongs and matching bra.

Considering the amount of laundry laying around, it didn't take much time to scrub it all clean. Once the final pair of boxers had been draped over a handy log, Laura stretched her arms out and wandered off to find something to do.

_Let's see. Yazoo is probably still cleaning, Loz is repairing the bikes... Where's Kadaj gotten to, I wonder?_

She vaguely recalled him saying that he was going to practice with Souba today. So she went to the clearing where they usually practiced with their weapons, hoping to watch him fight. The battle scenes involving Kadaj had always been some of her favorite parts of the movie, after all.

She was not disappointed. Kadaj had stripped down to his boots and a pair of leather pants, and his naked chest and arms were already gleaming with sweat. While that was a distraction all in its own, it was his movements that took her breath away. They were a combination of slow, graceful manuevers and lightning-quick, acrobatic feats, accompanied by slashes and thrusts at invisible enemies. The dance of a master at perfect harmony with his blade. Watching him, Laura became utterly convinced that Cloud's victory over him in the movie had been due to only two things: the distraction of having Jenova in his grasp at long last, and sheer damned luck.

She saw a soft glow shimmering around him, and recognized what it meant from the game. _Kadaj has a Limit Break? He didn't have one in the movie..._

There was a scarred, holey tree at the far edge of the clearing, obviously a victim of Yazoo's target practice. Kadaj focused on it, Souba held in a reverse-grip before him, then took a running start and jumped high into the air, falling towards the tree like a living, screaming bullet. Then he became a black-and-white blur, slamming into the tree and rebounding off it to a neighboring tree and launching off that surface right back at the hapless tree, only to repeat the whole process all over again. He was _everywhere_. It happened too quickly for Laura to decipher how many times he slashed into the tree.

Then he launched straight across the base of the trunk, ending in a low crouch with one leg stretched out behind him, Souba held parallel to it. His eyes were closed.

Behind him, about three seconds later, the tree exploded in a shower of ghost-pale shards.

_Hooooollllllyyy... Is _that_ what he was trying to do to Cloud? That's a bigger overkill than Omnislash!_

Kadaj slowly stood up, sliding Souba back into her sheath without opening his eye. He straightened, and let out a slow exhalation.

"Did you enjoy the show?" he asked, not looking at the woman.

_How did he know I was there?_ Laura emerged from behind the trees and held her arms behind her back, a little humbled by this blatant reminder of his strength and power. "You are amazing. What was that last attack called?"

He went for a towel hanging off a branch along with his sleeveless leather vest.With his back to her, he began wiping off the accumulated sweat. "I originally called it 'Silver Fury.' But it's got another name now."

"And what would that be?"

He didn't look at her. "'Mother's Blessing.'"

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Later that night, Laura lay alone in her bed, staring up at the ceiling with her arms folded behind her head, lost in thought.

_He named his Limit Break after Jenova... What does that mean? How am I supposed to interpret this?_

Her body was still sore from their exertions. After watching him demonstrate a few more of his moves and routines, they had exchanged jibes for awhile, then retreated to the baths and shared one of the tubs.

Which had, predictably, resulted in water splashing all over the floor and nearest wall as they fucked like rabbits _again_.

_It's like I'm addicted to him, like I can't get enough of him. We can barely keep our hands off each other when we're alone together. He's my new drug._

_And I love him. I love him so much..._

_I'll never, ever leave him. I promised I wouldn't. _

_And I never break my word. _

She thought back to each of her past relationships, closing her eyes in memory. She had thought she'd loved each of those men, too. But that had been mere infatuation, the thrill of mutual attraction. What she shared with Kadaj was deeper, stronger, than anything she had experienced with anybody else.

_As the bishop would say, it's "twue wuv." I'd bet anything, everything I have, on it. _

And he felt the same about her. He had shown her, told her, so many times in the past few days...

_But what kind of a future do I have with him? Unless she's destroyed, Jenova's going to keep on trying to turn him and sacrifice him for the purpose of Sephiroth's resurrection. And he won't destroy her; he despises her, but is still loyal to her, even though he knows she isn't his mother now. And I don't even know how long I'm going to be here. Am I stuck here on Gaia, or will I ever return to Earth? And if I do return to Earth, will he and his brothers come with me? _

_I'd rather stay here with them than return to my home without them. _

_Yazoo and Loz are almost like the brothers I never had. And I'm not leaving Kadaj. No fucking way. _

_Marriage, perhaps? _

_But he's so young, only eighteen years old. He's still got a lot of growing up to do, despite his maturity. I don't know if he's ready for that kind of commitment. Hell, I'm not even sure _I'm _ready for that level of commitment. Besides, the in-laws on both sides are completely insane. _

_Well, I can wait for him. When he's ready, he'll let me know. _

_I'm willing to take the risk. _

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

_Something's..._

_Wrong..._

Laura did not open her eyes. She recognized her survival instinct screaming that she was in danger, and remained motionless, pretending sleep until she could figure out what was wrong.

There was a static stillness in the atmosphere, the air reeking with the scent of deadly intent. She recognized that scent; her mother had often threatened her life when she was drunk, and several times in the alleys behind their home she had been in mortal danger from punks out for meaningless blood.

_I'm not alone._

There was someone in the room with her. And whoever it was wasn't making any sound, giving her little clue as to their identity.

She had to open her eyes.

_Do this slowly. No sudden movements. _

Her eyelids rolled up by increments, with excruciating slowness...

And her heart stopped.

Kadaj was standing over her bed, clad only in a pair of sleep-pants. Souba was held above her throat, mere centimeters from her rapidly-beating pulse. His eyes, glowing in the darkness, were wrong; the pupils were slitted.

There was no emotion on his face whatsoever.

_Oh my god... He's gone under._

_And she's decided..._

_Jenova's decided to kill me. Using him. _

She didn't speak. Words would have no meaning here. Instead, she locked her eyes onto his, silently pleading with him to be strong and push her away. She let her emotions speak through her gaze, silently reminding him of who he was, who _she_ was. Reminding him of how much she loved him, and begging him to recall that he shared those feelings.

She noted a fine trembling vibrating along his body. She pressed onward, begging him with her eyes to break free of Jenova's hold on his mind.

_Don't let her make you kill me..._

The tense standoff remained for what seemed like an eternity. Then, at long last, Kadaj's eyes flashed back to the normal, circular pupils. He looked down at her for a moment, then took Souba away from her throat. Laura lay perfectly still, staring into his eyes.

The twin-bladed katana slipped from his numb fingers, ringing out in protest as it hit the floor. A moment later, he was on his knees beside the bed, head buried in his hands. Laura closed her eyes slowly as the soft noises of his crying reached her.

_Another victory. But at what cost? How much has her hold on him increased?_

She slipped from the bed and joined him on the floor, putting her arms around him and drawing him down to her. Laura stroked his hair comfortingly as he wept. "I'm here, Kadaj. I'm all right. You didn't do anything to me. It's all right."

"No, it's not," he choked. "I almost killed you, Laura. If I hadn't come out of it, you'd be dead right now! And it would all be my fault!"

"But you _didn't._ You stopped it in time, Kadaj. You stopped her from killing me."

His only reply was more muted sobs.

For long minutes, Laura stayed on the floor with him in her arms, wordlessly soothing him as he cried. She had no words that would comfort him, and so all she could offer was her love and her forgiveness. At last, he drew back from her, his eyes red and swollen from his tears.

"Laura, I want you to go away. I'm too dangerous to be around. You won't be safe if you stay here."

She cupped his cheek, shaking her head slightly. "Kadaj, I knew the risks when I agreed to come back with Loz. I knew there was a good possibility that coming here would result in my death."

"But..."

"I'm not leaving you. I promised I wouldn't, and I won't." He looked so miserable that it broke her heart, but she knew this was their only chance. "I won't abandon you to her. I'll help you fight her.

"No matter what it takes."


	17. I Made My Choice

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **Here's another angst-fest, and this one is actually a lot more intense than some of the others. I mean, how often does this sort of thing happen in world-swap fics? Plus, I have to warn you all that this one is really graphic. I don't mean sex-graphic, but graphic nonetheless. Anyway, this is not the end of the fic! There's still plenty more to come! Oh, and dear readers? I would like to point out that all authors need feedback on their stories! Not only do they need reviews, they hunger for them as a starving man for sustenance. So throw me a bone here, and click the pretty purple button at the bottom of the screen! Go ahead, you know you want to... Or do you really want me to get Hojo out after you with murderous intent?

I Chose this Fate

Kadaj was getting worse and worse. He had an episode with Jenova once every other day now, sometimes more often than that. It was all that Yazoo, Loz, and Laura could do to protect each other from him when the Calamity had him under her control, all they could do to placate him. He was violently unpredictable, lashing out at them for no real reason before resuming his silent broodings a second later.

He was always apologetic once he had snapped out of it and Jenova was quiet, but it was getting harder and harder to forgive him. The mind and body could only take so much abuse before hatred set in, after all.

Laura found forgiveness especially difficult now, so soon after Kadaj had ordered her to fuck with Yazoo while he watched, leaving no orifice untouched. She especially remembered his sadistic smile when he had demanded that she take his brother in her virgin ass, refusing to allow him to fetch some lube to make the penetration easier. Neither she nor Yazoo had enjoyed any second of that encounter, even though their bodies had reacted with pleasure. It wasn't that the elder clone was a bad lover, because that had nothing to do with it (_And I'd have to be a liar to say that he wasn't good at it_). But what had Laura so upset was that immediately after both of them had finished cumming, Kadaj had attacked them, viciously beating Yazoo and raping Laura while his brother lay moaning in agony. He was out in the forest now, leaving the battered duo to their own devices.

Gritting her teeth against the pain that speared through her body, Laura pulled herself across the room to Yazoo, the Restore materia already in her hand. The Remnants had unanimously decided that she should be the one to carry that particular materia, and given her a silver armlet to carry it on her at all times. The long-haired clone rolled his head to look at her, too much in pain to move. Angry purple-red bruises were already blossoming across his milk-pale skin, all over his body. She winced at the size of some of them.

"I'm sorry, Laura," he croaked. "I didn't want..."

"Hush, Yazoo. I know. I didn't either." She ran the green materia down his body, and he breathed a sigh of relief as the pain faded and his wounds were speeded along the road to full healing. "He can't help it. He's completely under Jenova's control at moments like this."

"I know. But it still hurts."

Laura reached out and pulled a blanket over him, smoothing his hair down as a mother would. "I know. Just lay here, and get some rest. Let your body heal itself. Has he ever been this bad before?"

Yazoo shook his head, relaxing beneath her soothing caresses. "Never. He occasionally has bad episodes, but never like this." He grabbed her hand as she started to leave, moving for her clothes. "Laura, I've come to think of you almost like another sister, one to replace all the ones killed in the cells. I don't want to see him hurt you. And you know he will, sooner or later. Jenova won't let him keep you alive. You're too much of a threat to her."

Laura nodded sadly. _He already has hurt me, more than once... _"I know. I think of you and Loz as if you really were my brothers, the siblings denied me by my mother's own hand. But I can't stop loving him, Yazoo. And he needs me. Now, more than ever, he needs me. If hurting me can take him out of Jenova's reach forever, then I'll let him do it. Anything to keep him away from her forever." She looked at Yazoo curiously. "Why isn't she trying the same trick with you and Loz?"

"I don't know. But I wish she _would_ go after us, and just leave him alone."

Laura pulled on her jeans and slid her mesh shirt and Hard Rock tank over her head. "I'm going to go find him. You just rest."

Yazoo tried to get up, then gasped in pain and lay back down. "Laura!"

"I know what I'm doing, Yazoo. Just trust me." _Stop humming 'Taps,' conscience! You're not helping!_

Yazoo shouted her name as she raced out of the room, casting a Cure on her as she went.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

_Now where could he have gone? The bikes are still here, so he's got to be somewhere nearby._

She heard a yell from the weapons-practice clearing, and ran towards it as fast as she could. _That was Loz! God help us, don't let Kadaj lose himself! Please!_

She skidded to a stop when she saw the brothers. Kadaj had Souba out and ready, the razor-sharp edges already slick with blood. Loz was leaning against one of the trees, crimson rivers streaming from a multitude of slashes and cuts that crisscrossed his body, panting heavily.

"Loz!" she cried. "Kadaj, stop! You're killing him!"

Souba was suddenly inches away from her neck, her wielder having crossed the clearing in less than a second. Laura stood perfectly still, staring into her lover's eyes.

_Sephiroth's _eyes.

It wasn't Kadaj. There was someone else, a lethal stranger, inside his body.

_He's lost... We're all lost..._

_I failed..._

"I thought I made it perfectly clear who your master is," he hissed. "And I shall do as I please. Do you need another lesson?"

"You're not Kadaj," she whispered. "Not _my _Kadaj. The Kadaj I know and love would never hurt me, never hurt his brothers, like this."

"Shut up!" he growled, pressing Souba in a little tighter. Laura felt the sting of skin parting, felt hot blood spilling down her neck and chest in small, slow rivulets.

But she didn't flinch, refused to back down.

_I've made my choice._

"The Kadaj I know..."

"Shut _up!_"

"...would never allow Jenova to use him as her puppet."

She could not hold back a pained yelp as his gloved hand suddenly fisted in her hair, yanking her head back as far as it could go, exposing her throat to Souba's cruel edges.

"You have caused me enough problems, Laura Kerrington." The voice belonged to Kadaj, but the words were not. Whoever was talking to her (and she had a sinking suspicion she knew who it was), was not the man she loved. "You have prevented the Reunion for as long as I am willing to tolerate. Now, it is time for you to die."

"You'll never win," she gritted out. "Cloud and the others won't let you succeed. You have already lost."

"You forget one crucial factor, Miss Kerrington." The double-bladed katana slid against her neck until the hilt was tight against her fast-pulsing carotid artery, cold and threatening. Undeniable. "This is not a movie. This...

"...is reality."

It was over in one quick slash. He let her drop, leaving Laura to drown in her own blood. She dimly heard Loz calling her name, but her eyes were glued to Souba, to the macabre vision of her blood dripping from the blades to the forest floor. _So...beautiful..._

Then, as the darkness closed, she sought out Kadaj. Her lips formed one last message.

_I love you, Kadaj..._

She was lost to the darkness.


	18. The Heart Dies a Slow Death

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **Surprise! Told you that last chapter wasn't the end of the story! There's plenty more surprises in store, worry not. And we finally get to meet more members of the supporting cast. And yes, I did take this title straight out of Memoirs of a Geisha, which I also do not own. It just seems appropriate. I know this chapter moves a little fast, but everything I was trying just wasn't working. Uncooperative muses... Leave me reviews, people!

The Heart Dies a Slow Death

"Laura, what's wrong with you?You've been awfully quiet tonight."

"Oh. Sorry. I'm just..." Laura stared down into her mug of coffee, refusing to look at her friend, who also happened to be one of her exes. "I've got a lot on my mind, that's all."

Bryan put his mug aside, reaching out to take her hand and squeeze it comfortingly. "Care to talk about it?"

_No. _

_But you've got to tell someone. They'll find out in a few months anyway._

_Yeah, I know._

She sighed and took a sip of her Folger's. "I'm pregnant."

The dark-haired man looked at her, stunned. "What?"

"You heard me. I'm pregnant. Knocked up, gotta bun in the oven, expecting the stork, maternally blessed, fulfilling my God-given purpose in life, with child, swallowed a watermelon, etc. Do you want me to draw you a fucking picture?" she snarled.

He held up his hands in an attempt at pacification. "No, I heard you the first time. I'm just surprised, that all. I didn't know you were seeing someone. I mean, it's only been a few months since we broke uup... I thought you weren't ready for another relationship."

"I didn't either." _Seems I was wrong. _

"Does that father know? Who is he?"

"You don't know him. And no, he doesn't know."

"Did you break up with him?"

"Not exactly. He... left me." _Can't exactly tell him that he went insane and murdered me, sending me right back to Earth along with all of my stuff. He'd think I was nuts. _

"What a bastard. What kind of guy leaves his woman when she's carrying his child?"

Laura was silent, gripping her mug with white-knuckled hands. _You didn't know him like I did. You don't know how much I loved him, how much I _still _love him. _

"Are you going to keep it?"

She nodded. _I'd _never_ give up my baby, this life we created together. Never. _

"Laura, you can't raise a baby by yourself. You're back at work now, and Harris has got you on double-shifts. You don't have time to raise a baby!"

"I'm keeping this baby, Bryan. I loved its father, and I'm not going to abandon it or get rid of it. I took the time to create it. I can take the time to raise it as well."

"But Laura... What about your career?"

"I'll manage, Bryan."

"At least consider..."

"Get out, Bryan. Just...go."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Laura looked at the apartment tiredly. Number 514. A number she hated beyond all others, even the dreaded triple 6. The witch inhabiting this apartment had ever been the bane of her life, but she had a duty to her. She had to give her the news.

She placed her hand on the doorknob and turned it, opening the door and taking her first step back into hell.

_Smell's not so bad this time. Guess Mom finally cleaned up a little. _

She stepped over a few stray bottles of cheap vodka and into the living room. "Mom? You here?"

A harsh, throaty voice answered back. "I'm in the kitchen."

Laura made her way to the kitchen, avoiding various piles of filth and garbage all the way. This was the second reason she hated visiting her mother; one misstep could result in disaster. Her mother was sitting in one of the splintering wooden chairs at the rickety table, smoking a cigarette while watching "The Price is Right." For once, there was a glass of milk in front of her rather than the customary bottle of booze. She waved noncommitedly as her daughter approached. "So whaddya want now? Got kicked out of that fancy-pants apartment of yours and need a place to stay?"

_Thank you for your gift of sarcasm. I shall cherish it always._

"No, actually. I'm doing even better than I was last time I visited." _Three years ago. _"I just came to inform you of something kind of important."

"Well, spill it. What's up?" Valerie gestured to the other chair and scratched at her greasy curls. "Siddown. I'm your mother, not some stranger. It's still your chair."

_If you think I'm sitting in that disease-ridden fire hazard, you've got another think coming, you damned harpy._ "Look, Mom. I just thought I'd tell you that in about five or six months, you're going to be a grandmother."

Valerie froze. "What did you just say?"

"Mom, do I have to spell it out? I'm pregnant. P-R-E-G-N-A-N-T."

The aging woman collapsed back in her chair, arm thrown across her eyes dramatically. Laura rolled her eyes, and started backing out of the kitchen. _Here comes the storm..._

"Have I taught you nothing, Laura? Marriage comes before babies. You don't get pregnant until you get yourself a man! Do you need one of my kits? We can get that baby out of you real quick."

"Mom, I don't want to get rid of this baby."

In a flash, Valerie was up, scowling at Laura with one fist curled. "Sweetie, you have to get rid of it. If you don't, then men won't want you anymore. Do you want to end up like your poor old mother? Alone?"

"I'm in a better place than you could ever hope for, you washed-up, filthy, yellow-toothed, ass-faced old bitch."

_Ok, we need to get out of here. NOW._

Valerie screamed and flew at her daughter, catching her by the hem of her shirt and her hair and pulling her back. Laura grunted in pain and tried to pull away, but the older woman's long nails had snagged secure holds on the fabric. Despite Laura's efforts, she was hauled backwards and spun around, her head twisting to the side as her mother slapped her.

"You ungrateful little chit! Haven't I been nothing but nice to you all these years? Didn't I keep a damned roof over your wretched little head, food in your worthless stomach? I fucking taught you everything I know, sacrificed everything for you, and this is how you thank me? By getting knocked up and then crawling back here to call me names? Well, I'll teach you!" Each of these statements was punctuated by a slap or a claw, faster than Laura could react. Those same nails were sharp enough to draw blood; there was already several cuts oozing down her cheeks. She wanted to defend herself, but worried that the amount of force she could put into a punch or kick would be enough to kill her mother.

"Let go of me, whore!" she yelled, bringing a leg up to knee her mother's stomach. Valerie folded with a pained grunt and let go, allowing Laura to sprint for the exit.

"Sinful little bitch!" A bottle twirled through the air, and Laura ducked it, flinching as it shattered against the wall. Hurtling over the mess in the living room, she reached the door and wrenched it open just as her mother clattered into the entry-way, another beer bottle held ready. "Get back here so I can teach you a lesson!"

"No!" She raced for the stairs and mounted the banister, sliding down the rails until she reached the bottom. _Huh. The old escape route still works. _Her mother was still screaming obscenities from the fifth floor, and Laura looked up just as she reached the front doors. Valerie's pinched face glared at her from atop the stairs.

"Laura Rene Kerrington, if you walk out that fucking door, I swear I'll write you straight out of my damned will!"

"You don't _have_ a will, Mom! And I don't need your shit anyway; I'm the sole beneficiary of Grandma and Grandpa's will!"

The bottle came hurtling for her head. Laura raced out the front doors, watching it explode against the metal handles with no emotion whatsoever.

_Goodbye... Valerie Kerrington. _

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

It had been three months since she had returned to Earth. Three months since he had killed her.

Three months since she had known the deepest, most powerful love she would ever know.

Laura took her life a single day at a time now, trying desperately to act like nothing was wrong when she was falling apart on the inside. She lived for the baby, _his _baby, and nothing else.

Nothing else mattered anymore.

She watched _Advent Children_ as often as she possibly could. It broke her heart to see the events played out, as she knew they had to have occured in reality, but this was the only way to see _his _face, to hear _his_ voice. The movie and the baby were her only connections to the man she loved, and no matter how much it cost her, she would not relinquish them.

She dreamed of him nightly, of the moments she had shared with him and his brothers. She often woke up, soaking wet, images of their lovemaking fresh in her mind. Other times she would awaken to find his name ringing from her lips, the moments of his fight against Jenova's hold on him haunting her consciousness. Then there were the nights when she would envision his death, a reoccuring nightmare that rendered her exhausted and unable to sleep.

This was such a night. Her own screams had awoken her from the horror, her mind's eye still watching him fade into a spray of emerald fire-lights. Drawing her legs up to her chest and resting her head against her knees, she wept, pouring out her sorrow in a river of heart-ache, of soul-deep pain.

_Why did you make me leave? I could have helped you!_

_The memories are killing me. I don't know if I can go on, if I don't have you beside me..._

_Somebody help me through this nightmare. I can't keep living like this!_

She couldn't confide in her friends. Denise would think she was insane. During their conversation over the Instant Messenger, she had expressed reservations about Laura's pregnancy, and offered to raise the baby along with her own daughter when it was born. Laura had flat-out refused, and while her friend still wasn't happy with the idea of her raising it alone, she had agreed to come down and stay with her during the last trimester until it was born and she was comfortable with its care.

Bryan didn't want to help her work through her pain; he wanted her to move on as fast as possible. Ever since she had told him she was pregnant, he refused to leave her alone. He called her, e-mailed her, came to see her as often as he could, and every single time, he gave her the same offer:

"I still love you, Laura. Give me another chance; let me be the father of your baby. Forget that loser, he's never coming back. Marry me. I'll give you everything you need."

_But you can't give me what I need the most. Nothing can. _

Her love for him was consuming her, making her wither and die. She knew she had lost the will to live. The only reason she hadn't joined him in death was because of the life in her womb. She had to live for the baby.

_Why did you have to die? Why?_

Still sobbing quietly, Laura got up to go to the kitchen. Her throat, her mouth, felt like they had been filled with sand.

_Why does this always happen to me? _she thought sorrowfully, filling a glass with water. _The people I care about the most always wind up dead. First Joseph, and now..._

Tears brimmed again. She gripped the sink and grabbed a dish-towel, wiping at her eyes. _Look at me. I can't even think his name without breaking down. What kind of a mother is that?_

_Better than my mother, that's what. Did I ever have a mother in the first place?_

After their violent confrontation, Valerie had disowned her. Laura had no mother now, only the promise of her inheritance from her grandparents, who, while disapproving of her lack of a husband, wholeheartedly agreed that she should keep this baby. _Still as hypocritical as ever, expecting me to be the paragon of chastity while she remains the proverbial Whore of Babylon. Thanks Mom. I love you too. _

A drink of water made her feel a little better. She would have preferred Smirnoff or Captain Morgan's, but she refused to endanger her baby with her desire for alchohol. The strongest drink she would have for the next six months would be Diet Coke.

_How much longer can I last? I'm driving myself out of my mind, and I know it. Can I at least make it through this pregnancy so I can give the baby to Denise and her husband, if I can't live for it? _

_This love is killing me. I need him so much..._

_But you can't bring back the dead. Nobody can._

Wiping at a few stray tears, Laura picked up the glass and shuffled out of the kitchen, praying she could get some sleep before she had to go to work. _Wonder what shit Harris will put me through today? What's his beef with me anway? Is he still sore over that whole thing with Thomson?_

As she passed through the living room, she noticed that her window was open, the wind fluttering the curtains lazily. _That's odd. I thought I closed that window before I went to bed. _

The draft was chilling her skin. Still holding the glass, she went to close it.

Then her eyes fell upon something laying on the couch, freezing her in place.

Her heart stopped. _Oh. My. God._

It moved just as the glass slipped from her fingers, shattering on the floor and spraying across her naked legs and feet in a cascade of glittering crystal tears.


	19. Impossible Dream

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **I'm sure some of you saw this coming. However, I think this is the best thing for the fic. I mean, how many times has Cloud come back from the dead? Give someone else a turn! I hope none of you get perverted ideas from the mention of 'left breast.' Kadaj, obviously, does not have breasts. Oh, and from the looks of it, we're nowhere near the end of the fic. There's still plenty more to come... Assuming I recieve reviews. I mean, isn't there something any of you would like to comment on? Hate something? Love something? Anything? Don't leave me flapping in the wind here!

Impossible Dream

She had to be dreaming. There was no was he could be here, no way he was speaking to her. She took a step back, trembling violently.

_It can't be... It just can't be..._

"Laura? Don't you recognize me?" He got up from the couch and approached her, causing her to stumble backwards until she was pressed against the wall, still shaking from the force of her pounding heart. There was a certain, twisted sense of deja vu about this whole thing.

_Same hair..._

_Same size..._

_Same outfit..._

_Same eyes... Oh god. His eyes..._

_This is impossible! _

_But if it is just a dream, then don't let that fucking alarm clock wake me up yet. That would be too cruel even for that mechanical Satan-spawn._

"Ka..." Her voice broke, and she had to clear her throat, work up some spit, before she could speak again. "Kadaj?"

He nodded, his pupils obviously circular, wide with excitement. "Yes, Laura. It's me. Nobody else. Just me."

"How?" she whispered, covering her mouth with her hands. "You're supposed to be..."

"Dead?" She nodded dumbly. "I thought I was. But I'm not." He moved closer to her, took her hand and placed it atop his left breast. She swallowed hard as she felt the steady beat of his heart, the rise and fall of his chest that indicated breathing.

All signs of life. Indisputable proof.

_This is... Real..._

A moment later she was in his arms, his head nestled tightly beneath her chin. And she was crying again, but this time in happiness rather than despair.

"You're not dead... You're not dead... You're not dead..."

"I'm here, Laura. And I'm alive. I'm alive."

Then his lips were on hers, and the dam burst. All her pent-up need, all her pain and heart-ache, all of her love came crashing down on her in full, a tsunami-wave of emotions that engulfed them both.

_Remind me how to live. Help me remember what it feels like to be alive..._

Their clothes were gone, abandoned. Tongues were twining, hands were roaming, forging fiery trails of lust across passion-flushed skin. Bodies together, sliding to the floor. And movement, oh, sweet movement! Flesh into flesh, as fast and hard as physically possible. Velvety lips feasting at each other, dragging along necks and shoulders at torturous speeds. Teeth sinking into unmarked flesh, gutteral moans and keening cries rippling from from the depths of their beings.

An explosion of light and heat, stars bursting into the night. A final scream from two throats, mingling and twining into one creation, one wordless declaration of love and passion.

His body a comforting weight upon hers, his breath hot against her neck.

_He's here. He's real. No dream is ever this realistic._

"I never dreamed I'd see you again," she whispered, hands running leisurely up and down the smooth plane of his back. "How did you get here?"

"That woman brought me."

"What woman?" _Not Jenova. Please say it wasn't Jenova..._

He shook his head slightly, silver hair sliding along her breasts. It had grown a little since last she had seen him. "I don't know her name. But she took me and my brothers in, and told us we didn't have to suffer anymore. She told me you needed me, and sent me here." He put his head down, inhaling the familiar scent of her skin. "And here I am."

"What did she look like?" Laura had a suspicion now.

"Brown hair. Green eyes. Pink dress. There was also this guy with black hair that kept acting really possessive around her, even while he kept cracking jokes. Don't know who he was either."

_Zack and Aerith. How did they know?_

_Dumbass. They guard the planet, remember? Of course they would know about your relationship with Kadaj, your efforts to keep him out of Jenova's clutches. _

_Wait a minute... Jenova..._

"I'm sorry."

He lifted his head. "What?"

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you from Jenova. I promised myself I wouldn't let her destroy you and your brothers, but..." Tears welled and she turned her head away, ashamed. "I failed you. She succeeded. Your deaths are as much my fault as they are hers. My fault."

"Laura." He gently turned her head to face his; she could feel the intensity of his gaze even behind her eyelids. "Look at me."

She shook her head, tears slipping from the corners of her eyes. She felt his fingers stroke softly along her face, catching the precious crystals before they could disappear into her hair. She opened her eyes just in time to see him sip the tears from his fingertips, as if they were the most precious of wines.

"Don't cry, Laura. You're not to blame. If anybody is at fault, it's me."

"What do you mean?" _How can he forgive me? I can't even forgive myself..._

"Laura, I don't deserve you. During the last few weeks you were with us, I treated you so badly. I even went so far as to rape you, to _kill _you." His eyes were swimming now, but strangely his voice was steady. "Everything went wrong after that. I...I couldn't think clearly. Someone else was telling me what to do, even if I didn't want to do it. And I did those things. I didn't have the will or even the strength to prevent them. I just stopped fighting, because she was too powerful. It was almost a relief when Sephiroth took over my body. I didn't have to think. I didn't have to fight. I wasn't in pain." He looked away from her. "Do you know what broke me, Laura? What destroyed my will to resist?"

She shook her head.

"When... That day I made you and Yazoo... She _made_ me watch, Laura. Everything that happened that day, she forced me to watch it. I saw all the things she made me do to you, to Yazoo and Loz. And I could only watch. She was in control of my body, and he was too, but my mind was trapped. I could only watch myself rape you, kill you. I got control back only when they _gave_ it back. And that was after you were dead. I just stood there, looking at you, at the mess Souba had made of your throat.

"And my resistance died."

"Kadaj." She pressed a kiss to the side of his mouth. "That woman who brought you back to me... She is wise beyond her years. Until you got here, I was seriously thinking about ending it all. I wasn't thinking about my friends. I wasn't thinking about the baby. I just wanted to see you again."

Kadaj froze, then slowly turned his head to look directly into her eyes. "Did you just say... _'baby'_?"

_Good a time as any, I suppose. _"Yes, Kadaj. It's true. I'm carrying your child."

He levered himself up on his hands, staring at her slightly-rounded stomach. Then he got up on his knees and settled onto her thighs, reaching out a hesitant hand to touch her, just below the navel. His fingers had barely made contact with the warm flesh before he snatched them back, cradling them against his body.

Laura reached up to stroke his cheek. Wordless comfort and encouragement. He reached out again, and this time he didn't pull away. She slid her hand down and covered his hand, smiling up at him. _Don't be afraid. We created this life together. It is s much your baby as it is mine. _

A tentative smile crept over his face, and he raised amazed yellow-green eyes to meet her blue ones. "My baby. You really are pregnant with my child."

"Out of death springs life anew." She sat up, still holding his hand to her womb. "I don't exactly know what happened when Jenova and Sephiroth tried to kill me. But this baby is proof that they failed." She kissed him softly, her gaze unwavering upon his. "If you had killed me, the baby would not have survived. You didn't. They failed."

Kadaj nodded slowly. "It...makes sense. But Laura, I _saw_ your body lying there. I saw your blood spilling across the grass and soaking into the dirt. For Holy's sake, I saw Yazoo and Loz bury you in the clearing! How could it be that you were in two places at once?"

She sighed. "I wish I knew. But I don't have an answer. I don't think we'll ever know what happened in that moment." Her arms snaked out and pulled him closer, holding him tightly against the front of her body. "But I really don't care. All that matters to me is that we are together. Nothing else."

He wound his arms around her back, pressing his face into the curve of her neck. "All that I want is to be with you. Nothing else. That's all I want, more than anything else."

"That's all I want, too."

_It would be better if Loz and Yazoo were here too. But if I get Kadaj and only Kadaj..._

She stroked his hair gently, closing her eyes. _That's more than I ever dreamed of._

She gradually became aware that he was laughing. Laura pulled back to stare at him, stunned. _What the fuck could he possibly be laughing about?_

"What's so funny?" she asked, arching one eyebrow in question.

He was laughing so hard that he had to calm down a little before he could form a coherent sentance. "I'm here with you, we're naked, and we're not _doing_ anything!"

Laura stared at him, then giggled softly. The giggle turned into a chuckle, and suddenly she was laughing. And he was laughing, and they were laughing.

They were laughing together.

_He's right! We were never able to keep our hands off each other when we were naked, but we are now? What the fuck is wrong with this picture?_

"Shall we remedy that situation?" she inquired suggestively. _Once, after all this time, just isn't enough._

_It's only been three months since you last saw him!_

_Shut up, conscience._

"Which way's your room?"

"Follow me, Lover Boy." She stood up and began walking towards her bedroom, a provocative roll in her hips. She was fully aware that Kadaj's eyes were glued to her posterior, and recieved confirmation when she heard a soft, playful snarl.

"You little tease. You're gonna scream when I get my hands on you!"

Laura squealed and raced for her room, already anticipating the things he would do to her once he caught her.

_Thank you, Zack and Aerith! Thank you!_


	20. I've Always Wanted to Do This

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **Two chapters in one day. Wow, and I've got two more still waiting in the wings, not to mention the ones I haven't even written yet! Jeez, I hate it when the documents aren't accepted. Then I'm stuck doing things like this! Anyway, I'm 99.9 certain that this is something we all have wanted to do to our bosses at least once in our lives. However, I would not advise doing so unless you've already been hired for another job. The reference following a stunt like this is bound to ruin your chances. Yes, I am fully aware that Kadaj is probably the least likely of the Final Fantasy characters to want marriage (aside from Loz, that is). However, I am not working with the insane, Jenova-devoted Kadaj from the end of the movie. If Reno and other assorted non-marriage characters can get hitched, then so can Kadaj. Review please!!! **Tell me what job you'd like to see Kadaj in!** Extreme sports? Demolition? Music industry? Fast food? Tell me, because it's kinda important later on in the fic!

I've Always Wanted To Do This...

The phone was ringing.

_Just shut the fuck up already. I'm in bed with my man, and I'm happy, and I have just spent the past few hours screwing. Leave me alone. _

The telephone was not telepathic this morning.

Laura grumbled incoherently, hearing her complaining echoed by her silver-haired lover, and reached arm out for the bedroom phone. However, she could not reach close enough. So she dragged herself nearer to the edge of the bed, partially hindered by the limb wound around her waist. Just before the fifth ring ended, she managed to bring the reciever to her ear. "Hello?"

"Kerrington! Why aren't you at work?!"

Her boss' voice was a jarring shock to her senses. Laura glanced at the digital clock beside the phone, vaguely remembering that she had hit the snooze alarm at some point. _Maybe it was more than once..._ The red numerals read 10:56 am.

_Four hours late. Well, after last night, do you blame me?_

"Kerrington, I asked you a question!" That bellow was enough to rouse her lover, who slipped his other arm around her and pressed a hot kiss to her nape in greeting.

"Would you like an honest answer, Mr. Harris?" she inquired sweetly, relaxing back against Kadaj's chest. _I have been wanting to do this for a good long time, now. _

"Of course I want an honest answer, Kerrington!"

"Who is it?" Kadaj murmured, sliding his hands up her body to cup her breasts.

Laura exhaled softly, feeling her banked arousal spike. "Just my boss, Mr. Harris." To the phone, she said "I'm laying in bed with the man I love. We spent all of last night fucking each others' brains out not just in said bed, but also up against the walls and in the apartment window where all of New York City could see us. And I am fairly certain that I am going to get screwed senseless yet again in a few minutes, now that he is awake." She threw a wink at Kadaj, who grinned and rolled her onto her back, moving down her body and beginning to eat her out. Laura, just to make her boss squirm, narrated. "Oh yes, baby. Lick my clit. Oooo, that's good. Get your fingers in there. Yeah, baby, just like that. Lick _faster_, dammit!" She kept her voice low and husky, wanting to make absolutely certain that the man on the other end of the line was fire-engine red. He was of a prudish, Victorian nature that had her and the other employees convinced that he had not screwed his wife in any of the decades following their marriage. It was almost a running score around the office, keeping track of how many times they cold embarrass their boss with sex-related comments and off-color jokes. "Oh yes! Yes! Yes!" She arched her hips up and let out a shriek that sounded exactly like something straight out of a triple-X rated porn video, directly into the phone. "YES!!!"

"_Kerrington!_" Harris squeaked. "If you do not come in, I will be forced to terminate your position!"

She smiled lazily, feeling a hot, wet tongue slither around her clit. "He's licking my pussy, Mr. Harris."

"You are a skilled artist and a good judge of what will sell to the public. Do not make me fire you, because I will if you continue with this." She could practically hear him sweating.

"Oh baby! Don't stop!" Kadaj had moved up her body and was currently sucking at her nipples. "Not too fast, baby. I dont' want to cum before you shove that enormous cock into my tight little pussy."

"Kerrington!"

"I'll be in to pick up my stuff later, Harris. I quit." She dropped the phone back on its cradle right in the middle of his enraged, sputtering rant, focusing her attention exclusively on her lover. "Now... Where were we?"

Kadaj grinned and moved his hips against hers, rubbing the head of his cock against her slit. "I believe I was about to shove my enormous cock into your tight little pussy."

"Ah yes. I remember now. As you were, then." She sighed as she felt her walls expanding around him, their hips fitting snugly against each other, as perfectly as ever.

_God, I missed this. He's my first and my only. And he's so damn good at this. _"I love you," she whispered against his lips. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." He rolled onto his back, letting her take control of the pace. "Never leave me, Laura. Stay with me forever."

She balanced herself on her knees, leaning back and moving her hips up and down. "Yes, Kadaj. Oh god, yes! I'll never leave you again!"

He sucked his breath in. "Laura...The mirror..."

She twisted around, and realized that her bedroom mirror was in the perfect position to reflect what was going on in the bed.

A lightbulb came on above her head.

"Kadaj, I need you to sit up." He obeyed, propping himself up against the black metal of the headboard with a naughty glint in his eyes. A hot kiss was exchanged, then she raised herself and turned around until her back was facing him.

Now they both could watch the mirror, watch his cock slipping in and out of her opening, slick and shiny with her juices. It was a portrait of sinful debauchery, and both of them moaned at the sight.

"Laura..." He grabbed one of her hands and put it atop her open, dripping slit. "Touch... I wanna see..."

She obliged him, pinching, pressing, and rubbing her clip and lips. "Oh god..."

The combination of visual and sensual stimulation was simply too much. Laura threw her head back and arched her spine, the orgasm overwhelming her. She heard Kadaj growl something indecipherable, then fell back against his chest in sensual exhaustion as his seed filled her once more.

They lay together for uncounted moments, just enjoying each others' warmth and presence. Then Kadaj pressed a kiss to Laura's temple. "Laura, I know there's an age difference between us. And I know you'll have to be the one supporting us for awhile, but..."

_Oh my god. Is he saying what I think he's saying?_

"I don't want people to look down on us. So... Will you marry me?"

She twisted her head around to look at him, disbelieving of her own ears. "Are you serious?"

He turned his head away. "I'm sorry. If you don't want..."

"I didn't mean it like that, Kadaj." She tipped his head until their eyes met, a position that she considered worth it despite the pain it caused her spine. "You just caught me off-guard, that's all. I do want to marry you, more than anything."

The yellow-green windows of his soul grew wide, and he kissed her softly, lovingly. The kiss melted her heart, and she lay down against him when it was finished with a content sigh. Kadaj's hands wandered to her stomach once more, resting atop their child possessively. He chuckled softly.

"Never would've believed that I'd ever get married," he commented. "Never believed any woman would have me."

"You're my cross to bear, Kadaj. But it's a burden I accept willingly. Happily, in fact."

"I'll be more than dead-weight, Laura. I'll get a job, a _good _job, so you won't have to work anymore." He sighed. "What kind of wedding do you want?"

Laura slid her hands down to cover his. _Mine. My man. Our baby._ "First, we'll need to go ring shopping. I need an engagement ring, to prove I'm no longer up for grabs. Then we need to decide on a date and a location."

"No churches. I don't want to get married in a church."

_Guilty over Aerith's church, eh? I can see why. _

"No churches," she agreed. "There are plenty of other suitable places to get married. Just a matter of finding them."

"What about the date?"

"How would you feel about a summer wedding?"

"No problem with it."

"We also need to plan our honeymoon. And decide on a guest list."

Kadaj laughed. "I bet that'll mostly belong to you. I don't know anyone here."

Laura smiled. "That is easily remedied. We just need to get you out and about, that's all."

"And how are we going to pay for all this? You just quit your job."

"I have money put away. Besides, I have another job already lined up, with a better salary than that stuffed-shirt bastard was paying me. I work in advertising, and my concepts are more original than most of my competitors would think of. So we can afford as big a wedding as we want, no problem."

_Although frankly, I'd be just as happy with running down to the courthouse or city hall and getting hitched via public official. But we're only doing this once. Gotta do it right._

She smiled, and laughed as something popped into her head. Kadaj nuzzled the top of her head. "Gil for your thoughts."

"Just thinking about what my friends' reactions are going to be when they meet you."


	21. Beautiful Nightmare

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **Ok, who was expecting this? This chapter comes straight outta left field! And just to clarify, this part of the story takes place before Dirge of Cerberus. And I still need people to tell me what kind of job they could see Kadaj holding down to bring in the bacon! I might use it in the fic later on!

Beautiful Nightmare

_She was standing by a sea of flowers. Petals of pink and yellow and white brushed against her legs, an endless carpet of soft, pastel colors that invited serenity and peace of mind. Apart from the flowers, the horizon consisted of hazy white purity. A sterile, dreamlike world of neverending blank canvas. _

This is...the Promised Land.

_"So you do know where you are." _

_The voice was melodious and feminine, easily recognizable. Laura turned to see a woman with brown hair and intense green eyes, kneeling only a few feet away. She was tending to the flowers. "Aerith Gainsborough."_

_"You know who I am. You know that I'm dead, and where you are. But you are not afraid. That's good."_

_"I...want to thank you. For bringing Kadaj back to me, I mean." _

_Aerith nodded, sprinking water across the flowers before her with a sweep of her hand. "I had watched them along with Cloud and the others. I couldn't help them fight off Jenova, but I'm glad you did. Things would have been much worse if you hadn't helped them."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"Jenova's power is on the wane. As more of her physical body is destroyed, she loses the power stored therein. Your presence on Gaia gave Kadaj the strength and will to fight her, allowing Rufus Shinra and the WRO time to safely dispose of her body. Her head was all that was left, and due to its decayed state, the immense power it once held had faded. If you hadn't been there, everything would have been much worse. Geostigma would have been even deadlier, the three of them would have been much harder to defeat, and Sephiroth...well... Believe it or not, in that movie which mirrors reality, he is only possessed of a fraction of his true power. And with Cloud in the state he was in, he would not have succeeded in defeating him a second time."_

_Laura was stunned. _Only a _fraction_ of his power? Holy shit, no wonder he almost destroyed the planet!

_"Language, Laura," Aerith murmured, patting the soil down around one of the plants. _

_"So you can read minds, now?"_

_"Only those to whom I have some kind of connection. In your case, it is a sort of blood link, a very, very old one. Anyway, giving Kadaj back to you is my and Zack's way of thanking you for your help. You see, despite their physical maturity and power, he and his brothers are really just kids at heart. Yazoo and Loz... Jenova destroyed them. We offered them the chance to go to you with Kadaj, but they chose to stay here. He was the only one who wanted to try living again." She stood up, a snowy blossom between her fingers. "Just like any living being, he deserves a chance to grow. And you will give him that chance. I have faith in you."_

_Laura toed the dirt, not looking at her counterpart. _I don't need your faith... But it is appreciated. _"Aerith?"_

_"Yes?"_

_"I still don't believe that they had to die. If Jenova was growing weaker, couldn't their lives have been saved?"_

_"Jenova drove them out of their minds. Given time, Shinra and the WRO would have destroyed her head. But there was no real way to prevent what happened. You were our best chance, and you know what happened. Jenova got desperate and roused Sephiroth from his hibernation, giving him only enough power to possess Kadaj for a few minutes. Just enough time for him to kill you, to break his host's will, before she took over. You see, Jenova is still a threat as long as a single cell exists."_

_"So until the last remaining Jenova cells are destroyed..."_

_"Jenova will still be a big problem. And by consequence, so will Sephiroth." The Ancient smiled sadly. "Did you know he used to be a good man? He sometimes snuck into the labs to see me and my birth mother; he was just a teenager then. He always seemed really distant, like he didn't want to care about what was happening to us, but he was never unkind, either. I can even remember one time when he remembered it was my birthday. He brought me a piece of candy. It was the first present I ever got." A soft sigh left her lips, and her eyes fell. "I almost thought of him as a friend, until I forgot about him after we escaped from the labs. I think I was only about three or four the last time I saw him as a kid. It's ironic that he is my mortal enemy, now."_

_"More sad than ironic, I would think." Laura rubbed her arms. "Does Kadaj...?"_

_"No. He and his brothers are fully human now. All Jenova cells have been removed. They will never suffer her influence again." Aerith walked closer to her, laid a hand against her lower abdomen. Laura could feel the warmth of the touch through her tank top - _Why am I wearing clothes? Didn't I fall asleep naked? - _and felt that it was soothing to her unborn child. _

_"It concerns me, that you became pregnant before I could get rid of the cells. I don't know if any of Jenova's power can be transferred via semen."_

_Laura stared at her, eyes wider than monster-truck wheels. "Are you... Do you mean that Sephiroth could live on in my child?"_

_Aerith nodded. "That is my greatest fear. Sephiroth had this really powerful instinct for survival; if there was another vessel for him to occupy, he would take it. Kadaj and his brothers are now totally cut off from him. Useless for his purposes. But if Jenova's cells were passed on to his son or daughter..."_

_A quote from the movie filled Laura's head: 'I will..._never_ be a memory.' "When he said that he would never be a memory... Do you think he knew that he had another way to come back?"_

_Aerith grew pale, and her eyes dropped to the flower in her hand. "I can't assume anything. The possibility is...disturbing. But even if Sephiroth is reborn in your child, there is no way he could take over its body as he did Kadaj's. That would only happen if your child came into contact with Jenova cells, and the only remaining cells are somewhere in Shinra manor. There are none on Earth. So you and your baby should be safe."_

_"But Aerith..." Laura crossed her arms beneath her breasts and rubbed her arms, suddenly feeling unexplainably cold. "An accident is what took me to Gaia in the first place. What if another one takes my child there?"_

_"Your trip to Gaia was no more accidental than my asassination was. Zack and I were trying to come up with a way to help Kadaj fight back Sephiroth and Jenova, at least until her head was destroyed. And for some reason, Zack had fixated on the idea that a woman could help him. I don't know why he chose you instead of some native woman, or at least I didn't at the time. But he took advantage of the power generated when the lightning struck your cable line, and used that energy to bring your consciousness to Gaia. When your mind came through the warp, it automatically made a body for itself, identical to the original down to the last detail. When Jenova had you killed, the astral twin's life was ended, catapulting your mind back to Earth unharmed, along with a passenger. I don't think the conditions could be duplicated. Zack wouldn't do something like that again without a really good reason. And I don't think anyone else could, aside from me."_

Unless it's a powerful madman, like Hojo, _Laura thought sarcastically. _

_"Hojo?" Aerith clapped her hands to her mouth, looking horrified. "He _would _possess the necessary power and motivation to do such a thing! He already tried to help destroy the planet with the Sister Ray, and he'll try it again with Deepground in about a year or so. If he was to learn that Sephiroth could be reborn within your child, _Kadaj's _child, he would try to bring it to Gaia and resurrect him to destroy the planet! Why didn't I think of that? It's so obvious!"_

_"Why does he want to destory the planet? He doesn't have a grudge against it like Jenova or Deepground!" _

_"He was under Jenova's influence, remember? He injected himself with a substantial amount of her cells. But mostly, it's because he's a scientist, and a crazy one at that. He just wants to see what'll happen if the planet dies," she explained bitterly. "And I can't find him in the Lifestream to cleanse him; he keeps eluding Zack and I."_

_"So what am I supposed to do?" Laura asked, feeling scared. _

_"Tell Kadaj of the possibility. He'll need to know about it, so he can protect you if it comes to that. And don't worry about his sword; that'll come to him when he calls for it. But just keep going on about your normal life. Don't let this scare you out of your happiness. Zack and I will contact you if you need to know anything." Aerith pressed the lily into her hands. "Until we meet again, sister... Awaken."_

LKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLK

Laura sat bolt upright, feeling the chill of the open window on her naked, sweaty skin. Kadaj's arm fell off her waist as she moved, which caused him to stir. "Ughn... Laura? What's wrong?" he asked, yawning sleepily.

She closed her eyes, willing her heart to slow to its normal rate. "Kadaj, I just had a talk with Aerith. The woman who saved you. She said..."

He stared at her, took her hands in his and rubbed her knuckles with his thumbs. "What did she say, Laura? Tell me," he coaxed.

A soft gasp was choked out of her as the full meaning of what Aerith had told her came crashing down on her mind. _I could be pregnant with Sephiroth. _The _Sephiroth! He could be in my uterus, inside my baby, at this very moment!_

She fell against Kadaj, the mixture of baby hormones and shock wreaking havoc with her emotions. He was confused as to why she was suddenly crying into his chest, as well as more than a little worried. But he put his arms around her and held her as she wept, stroking her back soothingly and murmuring comforting nonsense into her hair.

_If what she told me is true... Then the things that happened on Gaia were a mere taste of disaster._

_The true nightmare has yet to begin. _


	22. Emergence of the Plot

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away. I also do not own the rights to Dirge of Cerberus or Deepground. If I did, Nero the Sable would not be tethered to his brother, Weiss.

**Queen's Quornor: **This chapter contains my interpretation of how Deepground was created. I have not used any secondary sources, only Dirge of Cerberus. Forgive me if I get some things wrong. Just to clarify, I really do need to know what kind of jobs you can see Kadaj holding down! I'm having some trouble envisioning him going to college, and I'd rather not have him flipping burgers somewhere. Ideas, people?

'History' Lesson

Laura sat at the kitchen island on one of the tall stools, hands wrapped around a warm mug of hot chocolate. Kadaj had helped her into the kitchen and made them some, working the microwave under her whispered instructions. He now sat across from her, wearing only a pair of her old blue jeans. The silence stretched between them, broken only by the ticks of the clock above the sink.

_Tick. _

_Tock. _

_Tick._

_Tock._

"Laura, what did she tell you?" he finally asked, circling his finger around the rim of his mug. "I've never seen you like this before."

_Well, I've never been told that my baby could be possessed by an insane mass-murderer, either. It's a first for both of us._

"Aerith...told me a lot of things, Kadaj. Things about you, about your brothers. About the baby."

"What about the baby?" His voice was suddenly filled with panic. "Laura, is something wrong with the baby?"

She shook her head. "Not exactly. Aerith told me that she had removed all of the Jenova cells from you and your brothers, so you are fully human now. I don't know how much that affects your abilities, but _she _won't ever hurt you again." Laura took a sip of her cocoa. _Mmmm. French vanilla. My favorite. _"But...I got pregnant _before_ you were cleansed."

His head rose, eyes wide. "You mean there's a possibility that our baby could be under her thumb, just as I was?"

"If the Jenova cells were passed on in your semen, then yes. But it gets worse than that."

"How could it get worse?" Kadaj rubbed his forehead tiredly. "Do you have anything stronger than this? I need a drink."

Laura raised one brow, surprised that he already had a taste for alcohol, before remembering that she had had her first drink when she was only fifteen. "It's in that cupboard. The one above the stove. Try the Irish Cream; it's really good with coffee and cocoa."

He retrieved the appropriate bottle and returned to the island, splashing a generous amount into his hot chocolate. The bottle was offered, but Laura shook her head. _This baby's gonna have enough problems without Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. _"To answer your question, Aerith believes that our baby could host Sephiroth's consciousness, exactly as you did." The bluntness of the statement caught Kadaj just as he took a drink, causing him to choke on the spiked cocoa. He coughed hard for a moment, then turned shocked eyes on his fiance.

"But Brother killed him! He's dead now, for good!"

The woman shook her head. "Just before he abandoned your body, Sephiroth told Cloud that he would 'never be a memory.' If Sephiroth knew there was another body with similar genetic makeup to yours, he would retreat to it. So there's a chance that our baby is hosting his consciousness, alongside its own mind."

Kadaj ran a hand through his messy silver hair. "But he only came out when I was weak, when I came into contact with her cells. Even if he is inside our baby, he won't have a way to possess it. He's trapped himself with no way to escape."

She licked her lips nervously. "But there's another problem. You know of Professor Hojo, right?" When he nodded, she continued. "Aerith thinks that he might try to transport our baby to Gaia, just like I was, with the goal of guiding him or her to Shinra Manor for another Reunion with the last remaining Jenova cells. Then Sephiroth will be born again, and there is a good chance he will try to destroy the planet again, this time using Deepground as his intrument for disaster. Their plan to resurrect Omega would interest him. If he could get inside Omega, and absorb all that power, the power of all the lifestreams gathered in a single place...

"There would be no chance for the planet's survival. None at all."

"Wait a minute." Kadaj held his hand up, looking strained and pale. "What is this Deepground? Who is Omega? I have no idea what you're talking about."

_Brief history lesson. Wait, does it count as history if it technically hasn't even happened yet? I'll have to let him play 'Dirge of Cerberus.' _

"Deepground was another of Shinra's dark secrets. To put it simply, they took normal people off the streets and subjected them to inhumane experiments with mako, no Jenova cells involved whatsoever. As far as I can tell, it was implemented shortly after the Jenova Project, and it was meant as a way of creating more powerful, single-minded warriors than the SOLDIER program could provide. It was kept top-secret, so very few of Shinra's bigwigs knew about it. Only Scarlet, Hojo, and Heideggar were aware of its existence, deep below the Shinra building. The last President knew, but Rufus was never briefed on the matter. As for Omega, he is the ultimate life-form, scheduled to appear only just before Gaia's final moments. He will gather all of the pure Lifestreams to him, and then take off with them into the cosmos to find a new planet, leaving Gaia an empty shell, a lifeless wasteland.

"The experiments on those people beneath Shinra worked... _Too_ well, in fact. The Deepground soldiers forgot everything that ever made them human. The only thing they know is the art of killing. They are all highly-skilled and tough to kill. And that's just the normal grunts. They are led by a group of elite warriors known as the Tsviets. The Tsviets are all gifted with unique abilities that will enable them to climb to the top of the pile, killing all who get in their way. There are only five Tsviets, but they are all nearly as powerful as Cloud or Sephiroth, or you and your brothers, for that matter. And none of them would hesitate to kill, even if it was only for pleasure. Their names are Azul the Cerulean, Rosso the Crimson, Shelke the Transparent, Nero the Sable, and Weiss the Immaculate, their leader. Weiss is of special interest, because he also retains a second consciousness within his body."

"Well, if it isn't Sephiroth, then who is it?"

"Hojo."

The yellow-green eyes got even wider. "But he's dead!"

"Yes and no. Just before AVALANCHE killed him at the summit of the Sister Ray, he uploaded his consciousness into Shinra's computer network, essentially creating a digital twin of himself, capable of individual thought and actions. Weiss has already agreed to a kind of symbiotic relationship with Hojo, which gives him a new body that is stronger and faster than his ever was. It also means that he can tap into the Lifestream and act upon whatever he finds out, since he is literally in two places at once. So if he heard Aerith and me talking about the baby, or whispers of it somehow reach him, he will try to figure out a way to bring our child to Gaia, so he can resurrect his son and use him to destroy the planet. It would be a mad scientist's dream: the Planet's ultimate WEAPON versus the most powerful mortal being to have ever existed. Either way, the planet is destroyed, along with almost everything on it. And Hojo would be able to witness it all, where he is relatively safe from harm. Either way, he would win."

Kadaj was silent for a moment, then slammed his hand down on the table. "That bastard... Well, he's not getting his paws on the baby. I won't let him! I'll kill him before he turns our son or daughter into another Sephiroth!"

"I know you will. Aerith also trusts you to protect the baby. In fact, she gave me something to help you towards that end." Laura got up and went to the bedroom, returning a moment later with a twin-bladed katana in her hands. She offered it to its rightful owner. Kadaj reached out, hesitating a moment, then wrapped his hand around the hilt and lifted it, sliding his eyes up and down the immaculate length of the blades.

"She _gave _Souba to you? How did she get it?"

"I don't know. She didn't say. But she trusts you to protect us with it. As I do."

He lowered the sword, reached out and grabbed one of her hands, squeezing it tightly. "So now it's my turn to do the protecting. I promise, Laura. I won't let Hojo touch either one of you. He'll die if he tries.

"And this time, it'll be for good."


	23. I Can't Get the Wig Off!

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away. I also do not own the rights to Who's Line is it Anyway. But I do own the right to say that the Drew Carey version is waaaaaay better than the original English show!

**Queen's Quornor: **So now Kadaj gets to meet the infamous Denise! One has to wonder how Laura's Final Fantasy-crazy best friend are going to react to a hot guy who supposedly exists only in a CG movie...

I Can't Get the Wig Off!

"So you're finally getting hitched? That's great, Laura! Man, I was starting to think you were doomed to single-motherhood!" Denise's voice squealed over the phone. "Is he the one who got you pregnant?"

"Yeah, he is. I'm marrying my baby's father."

"Certainly took him long enough to come around, didn't he? Anyway, so when's the ceremony?"

"It's going to be in June. We're still trying to decide on where the honeymoon should be. And the ceremony, for that matter." Laura hesitated, then plunged on. "Hey Denise, could you come up? I'd really like you to meet him."

"Well... I do need a vacation. Sarah's been teething, and she's driving me crazy. Jim just got back from a business trip, so it's his turn to watch her by himself. Besides, I just got my latest batch of illustrations in the mail. I don't have any work due. Ok, I'll be up tomorrow, ok?"

"Ok. See you at the airport then." She started to hang up the phone, then stopped herself. "Oh, and Denise? I want you to keep an open mind when you meet him. He... Well, let's just say that he doesn't really look like your average dude."

"Laura, please. You know me better than that. If he's good enough for you, and he's going to marry you, then he's all right by me. See ya tomorrow, girl."

"Later, Denise." Laura hung the phone back up, and then dialed another number. _I owe him this. He's been nothing but nice to me, ever since I told him I was pregnant. Even though he was a little...persistant. Besides, how many girls can say that they are still friends with their ex-boyfriend?_

The phone picked up after the second ring. "Hello?"

"Brian, it's Laura. I'd like you to come over tomorrow."

"Why? Are you all right?" She heard the concern in his voice, and knew that what she was about to say would be, at the very least, hard to hear.

"No, I'm fine. Better than fine, actually. You know the guy who got me pregnant? Well, he came back to me. And now we're going to get married. I'd just like you to meet him." _And prove that he's not the 'jerk' and 'asshole' you were calling him. _

He was silent for a moment. Then "Are you sure this is what you want, Laura? I mean, he left you!"

"Brian, that was something neither of us could avoid. But we're back together now, and everything's great. So will you come?"

Heavy sigh. "Yeah, sure. What time?"

"How about six? Denise is going to be here by then."

"You mean that woman with the nose ring?"

"Yep. That's her."

"Fine. See ya at six, then."

"Bye." Laura hung the phone up and leaned back against the armrest of the couch. Kadaj sat next to her, watching something on the television. _A Who's Line is it Anyway marathon. Heh. He's got good taste in television too. _"So it's settled. You're meeting Denise and Brian tomorrow at six."

"Are you sure they'll like me? I mean... Technically, I'm not even supposed to exist."

"They'll love you. Don't worry about it." She stroked her stomach, watching Colin and Ryan playing Sound Effects with a couple of old ladies from the audience. "Hey, what do we want to call this baby, anyway? We can't name it 'the baby' or 'it.' That would look really strange on a birth certificate."

"I don't really know any good names. But I would like to name it after one of my brothers. Preferably Yazoo."

_I knew he had a bond with him. _"Well, I was thinking of Alexander for a boy, and Olivia for a girl."

"Alexander Yazoo. Not bad at all. But Olivia Yazoo? No way."

"We can use the first part of the name for her middle name. How about Yazmin? It's Middle-Eastern, and fills the criteria."

"Olivia Yazmin. What about a last name?"

"Well... You don't have a last name, do you?"

"No."

"Then we'll just have to use mine. Which means that you'll have to take my name as well, when we get married. Furthermore, you need an Earth name too. 'Kadaj' and 'Jadak' just won't work."

"What about 'Tommy?'" he asked, grinning. "Remember that day?"

"How could I ever forget it?" She smiled fondly at him, then continued. "I think you should be named 'Kenneth,' or 'Ken' for short."

"Why's that?"

"The meaning seems to fit you. The name means 'born of fire,' or 'handsome, comely.' And God knows you are."

He put a possessive hand on her knee. "Good to see that you noticed, Laura. Fine. I will be Ken Kerrington."

"Kerrington only once we get married, Kadaj. And our baby will be either Alexander Yazoo or Olivia Yazmin. Alex or Livia for short."

"Yeah." He returned his attention to the television. All four of them were now playing Scenes from a Hat. "I don't really understand what's going on here."

"Give it some time, Kadaj. Sooner or later, you'll get it."

LKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLK

"So who exactly is this Denise? I mean, how will I know who to look for?" Kadaj asked, sticking close to Laura as they entered the airport. _All these people staring at him are making him nervous, especially since he looks so much like...well...like himself. _She had to admit that he looked entirely too much like himself, despite the fact that she had gone out and bought him some normal street clothes, and he was wearing those rather than the leather one-piece he had arrived in. The hair and the eyes made him distinct. _Contact lenses, maybe. But that hair's not getting touched. It would be a sin to dye it some other color. _

"Denise is... Well, leave looking for her to me. I know who to look for." Laura led him to Terminal 15, where Denise's plane would be landing. "Anyway, she should be out in a few minutes. Let's just wait over here, ok?"

He nodded, and let her lead him to the hideous orange seats. Laura pointedly ignored the lustful gazes the various beautiful young women threw at him, instead making sure her left hand was prominantly displayed so the silver ring he had picked out, set with a single ruby with a pearl on either side of it, was perfectly obvious. Several of the bimbos frowned and turned away when they realized the significance of the engagement ring; others nodded to her in a wordless expression of respect. Laura merely grinned. _That's right, bitches. This gorgeous piece of male perfection is _mine.

It was about fifteen minutes before a voice came over the loudspeaker, announcing that Flight 437 would be arriving from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina shortly. When that happened, Laura stopped the glaring contest she had been having with a living, breathing Barbie doll and turned her attention to the terminal entrance, watching for her friend.

A line of people streamed by them, most of the women and some of the men turning to look at the silver-haired hunk sitting by the entrance. Laura bristled when one of them lifted his hand in the unmistakable "call me" gesture, his eyes fixed on her man. To his credit, Kadaj blushed and looked away, his eyes going immediately to find her for reassurance. _Aww, I didn't realize he could look so cute when he blushes. Hell, I didn't even know he was capable of blushing! _She tightened her hand on his and leaned in close to whisper in his ear. "Don't pay them any attention, baby. All you need is a gold band on your finger, and they'll be jealous rather than undressing you with their eyes."

"I know." He still looked more than a little uncomfortable, but slightly better than he had been a moment ago. "I stick out like a sore thumb."

"Trust me, you wouldn't be the first person to do so." She nodded to a guy in a leather jacket walking by, dripping with silver chains and piercings, his dark hair spiked high above his head. "See what I mean?"

"I think so." He looked at the terminal as someone called Laura's name. "I think your friend might be here."

Laura stood up to check; sure enough, Denise was pushing her way through the crowd, duffel bag slung over one shoulder. She waved her hands above her head, signaling her location to the other woman. Denise waded through the river of people, throwing her arms around her friend in greeting.

"Laura! How have you been, girl?"

She returned the hug, unable to keep the smile off her face. "I've been fine, Denise. Just some morning sickness, but nothing I can't handle." She took a step back to take in her best friend. Denise had always been the more attractive of the two of them, a beautiful half-Lakota Souix woman with long black hair and smooth, caramel-colored skin. Her emerald eyes were a gift from her mother, and they only made her all the more alluring. Denise also had nearly as many cartilage piercings as Laura, and a diamond stud through her right nostril. And Laura knew that there was a tattoo of a pronghorn antelope on her left shoulder, a graceful animal that Denise adored. She was currently clad in an embroidered white peasant top and a tan leather skirt, matching boots covering her legs up to her knees. "Jeez, Denise. You'd never be able to tell that you've had a baby!"

"A hundred crunches a day does wonders for your physique," the other woman agreed, running a hand down her flat stomach with a smile. "So where's this mystery man of yours? Knowing you, he's got to be a looker!"

"He is. I would never settle for anything less than perfect." Laura turned and beckoned to Kadaj, who stood up and put his arm around her waist. She couldn't help grinning like a fool when Denise's jaw dropped. "Denise, this is my fiance, Ken. Ken, this is my best friend, Denise."

"Hello, Denise," Kadaj said, a smug smile ghosting along his lips.

Denise had to swallow before she could answer. "_Damn_, Laura. I knew you could sniff out gorgeous guys, but _daaaaammmn. _Where did you find one this handsome?"

"Oh, I'm sure he's nothing compared to your husband. But he's just right for me." She snaked her arm around his waist possessively. _Why hasn't she noticed the resemblence yet? There's no possible way she could miss it!_

She laughed. "You're right. There's not a man alive who could compare to my Jim. But hey, a girl's allowed to look, ain't she?"

"True. So true."

"So when's the baby due, anyway?" Denise inquired, leading the way to the baggage claim. She grabbed her suitcase as it slid down the ramp and followed Laura out to the entrance.

"Six months from now, in November. Gonna have a little Scorpio, from the looks of things. That'll be fun. C'mon, the car's this way."

LKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLK

With the radio blaring out Motely Crue, it immediately seemed to Laura that her day returned to the college-feel she always experienced when hanging out with Denise. Kadaj had relinquished the front seat to the visitor, and was currently lounging in the backseat, grumbling about how he needed to buy a motorcycle if he was going to get anywhere in this city. Denise had rolled her window down and was hanging her arm out, fingers clutching at the roof. Over the cover of the music, she leaned closer to Laura. "Hey, you do realize that you netted a cosplayer, don't you? He's a Kadaj-wannabe!"

Laura grinned ferally. "Denise, you have no idea. No fuckin' clue."

"You mean he's obsessed?"

"Not exactly. Let's just say that sometimes, I have this feeling that he really _is _Kadaj."

Denise snorted. "Well, he certainly looks the part. Even sounds like him. And where did he get those contacts? I swear, they're dead ringers for Kadaj's eyes!"

Laura shrugged, continuing to weave her way through traffic and not looking at her friend. "I don't mind, though. Kadaj is my favorite character in the movie." She caught Kadaj's questioning glance in the rearview mirror, and shook her head quickly. He nodded and returned to watching out the window.

"Doesn't he ever take that wig off, though? I mean, it's kinda silly to wear it when he's not in full costume."

She grinned, and rattled off a sentance in Pig Latin. "Ust-jay ry-tay o-tay ake-tay it-ay off-ay im-hay. I-ay are-day ou-tay." Denise grinned, then turned and grabbed a fistful of Kadaj's silvery hair, pulling as hard as she could.

The music helped muffle his yelp a little, but not much. Laura caught the look in her fiance's eyes, and honestly thought that he was going to kill her for a moment. But then he saw the shock on Denise's face, and just burst out laughing. "Laura, I can't get the wig off!" she blurted.

Laura joined in a moment later. "Denise, what were you expecting? He doesn't _wear_ a wig! Anyway, we're here."

"Oh." Denise got out of the car and went to the trunk as Laura popped it, grabbing her suitcase and duffel and heading towards the apartment building, uncharacteristically silent. Kadaj ambushed Laura as soon as she lifted herself off the seat, jerking her against him and yanking her hair as hard as he could. Her head snapped back as she let out a howl of pain.

"Now you know how it feels," he said smugly, releasing the dark brown strands but not relinquishing his grip on her waist. "Tell you what. I'll make it up to you later, after she's gone to bed, okay?"

"Kadaj, you know how noisy we both get. There's no way she could avoid hearing us!"

He released her and walked towards the apartments, casting her a naughty look over his shoulder. "Guess that means we'll have to keep it quiet, won't we?"

_Which means he's going to be putting twice as much effort as usual into making me scream. Damn, am I even going to survive that?_

_Challenge accepted, baby. Challenge accepted. _


	24. Seeing Yourself as Others Do

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor:** Has anybody ever wondered what Kadaj's reaction might be if he ever saw Advent Children? Well, here's your answer, as I see it. And obviously, I don't pay attention to the credits in the movie. So let's just say whoever played Kadaj is Kadaj's ghost-acting name, the name he goes by in movies. Also, it seems that e-mail system is down _again_. So if any of you were expecting update alerts or sent me private messages or something, that is why. Doncha just _hate it_ when this happens? I know I do!

Seeing Yourself As Others See You

"So what's new with Jim and Sarah?" Laura asked, sipping at her cocoa. "How's my goddaughter?"

Denise smiled and dug out a wallet-sized picture of her daughter, passing it to the couple on the sofa with an air of maternal pride. "Sarah's teething, as I mentioned on the phone. She's started walking too. And her grandparents are spoiling her rotten."

"She's adorable," Laura said, looking at the chubby little dark-haired baby in the picture, her seated position suggesting that she was nothing but knees and a slightly-oversized head. "Look, Ken. Isn't she cute?"

"Yeah." Kadaj drank his coffee, barely glancing at the picture. She frowned at him, concerned at his uncharacteristic silence, then handed the photograph back to its owner.

"Anyway, how's Jim? Is his new job at that magazine working out?"

"His job is great. There's all these perks for working at the magazine and, even better, he recently got some new games for us to play with." Denise sipped her coffee with a feral grin. "There are definite perks when your husband works at a video-gaming magazine for a living."

"You got lucky with that. I finally told off Harris, and I'm starting my job at Punk Advertising next week. You know, the advertising company that targets teens and young adults?"

"Yeah, I know what you're talking about. Man, I wish I could have been there when you told him off. He was a real bastard when I met him."

The doorbell rang, and Laura got up to answer it. Brian was standing just outside the door, looking a bit sullen. She searched his features for a moment before letting him in. "Denise, you remember Brian. Brian, this is my fiancé, Ken."

Kadaj waved lazily, causing Brian to narrow his eyes angrily. Laura didn't notice; she was preoccupied with pouring a third cup of coffee. She gave this to Brian and sat back down beside Kadaj, entwining one hand with his and picking her cocoa back up. Denise went on about the latest children's books she was illustrating and Laura answered all of Brian's questions, dreading the moment when attention would turn to Kadaj.

After what seemed like an eternity, Brian cast the first stone. "So, Ken. What do you do for a living?"

_...shit_.

"Well, I'm currently between jobs, but I guess you could say that I was a trick rider, an actor, and a fencer." Laura exhaled, thankful that he had answered so smoothly.

Denise refilled her mug. "What movies were you in?"

"He was one of the motion-capture and voice-acting guys for _Advent Children_. And guess which character he played?" Laura filled in, thinking fast.

The other woman's eyes widened. "You were the motion-and-voice actor for _Kadaj?!_ Jeez, and here I thought you were just some normal cosplayer! Damn, Laura! You really can pick 'em!"

"_Advent Children? _Never heard of it," Brian interjected.

"Man, you have no idea what you're missing!" Denise got up and marched over to Laura's movie-case, pulling out the appropriate DVD and looking at her friend. "What's say we show him, girl?"

Laura glanced at Kadaj, who took a deep breath and gave a slight nod. "Sure. Brian, you're in for a real treat."

_Don't let it get to you, Kadaj. It's over, it's done. She can't ever hurt you again._

From the first mention of Sephiroth, Laura knew Kadaj was having problems. His grip on her hand nearly made her cry out, it was so strong, but she didn't pry it off. If he needed her to keep grounded, then she would let him do whatever he had to do.

So she suffered in silence as his nails dug into her skin, feeling her bones grind against each other. He stayed stiff and silent throughout most of the movie, but there were a few times when Laura had to comfort him. The first was when the kids were drinking the black water; she heard a soft noise and, upon glancing over at him, realized that there were tears running down his cheeks. Upon seeing this, Laura had transferred his grip to her other hand, with some difficulty, and wrapped her arm around his shoulders, pulling him close and whispering soothing sounds in his ear, soft enough that neither of her friends could hear them. He eventually calmed and resumed his stiff posture, death-grip on her hand still intact.

The second had been when his on-screen self had merged with Jenova's cells to become Sephiroth. Kadaj actually got up off the couch and went for the bedroom, slow enough to look casual but faster than he normally walked. Laura told Denise and Brian to keep watching the film and special features, and followed him.

_Should've known this was going to happen… Why did I let Denise put that movie in? We could have just told Brian what the movie's about!_

She found him lying curled up on the bed, knees to his chest and head resting on one folded arm, the other fisted tightly against his mouth. His back was to the door. Laura knew from the characteristic shaking of his body that he was crying.

_I'm never going to let him see that movie ever again. _

She went to him, curled against his back and held him, her forehead resting against the base of his neck. _It's just a movie, Kadaj. Just a stupid movie. You're not like that anymore. That wasn't you._

He wept silently for a long time, and Laura simply held him, quietly humming the same song that had soothed him before, "You'll Be in My Heart." At last, he quieted and his hand crept down to rest on hers.

"You missed the movie."

"I don't need to see the movie. You needed me."

His fingers slid around hers tightly. Almost as if they were a lifeline. "Why do you care so much? I'm not worth your love. Not after all the terrible things I've done."

She lifted her head and kissed his jaw, resting her head back in the hollow between his neck and shoulder. "I've done terrible things, too. Does that make you not love me?"

"No. You know I love you. So much that it hurts."

"So it is with me. I love you regardless of what you've done or what has been done to you. To me, at least, you are worth something."

He rolled over to face her, yellow-green eyes so sad and full of conflict. "Will I ever be able to believe you when you say that?"

"You hate liars. And I don't want you to hate me, Kadaj. I couldn't live with that, knowing that I somehow hurt you."

"I don't deserve you," he whispered miserably.

"And I don't deserve you." Her free hand slid up to cover his heart, the steady rhythm beating a familiar tempo beneath her palm. "But you can't choose who you fall in love with. Nobody can."

"That guy out there deserves you more. He can take better care of you than I ever could."

"Kadaj, I chose you. Not Brian. And nothing's going to change that." She kissed him softly. "And don't even think that I'm only doing this for the baby. If I was thinking only for Alex or Livia, I would have accepted Brian's proposal the first time he asked."

Kadaj sat up, eyes suddenly flashing dangerously. "He asked you to marry him?"

"More than once. But I never said yes. I don't love him, not like I love you."

He growled softly, sending a shiver of desire and fear down her spine. "If he touched you, I swear I will kill him."

"There hasn't been anyone since you, Kadaj. There has only ever been you." She sat up and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly with her head under his chin. "You were my first, you are my only. I would never betray you with another man. You know that." _That time with Yazoo doesn't count._

_Why doesn't it? You fucked him, didn't you?_

_Circumstances. Both of us would have been killed if we hadn't done the dirty. _

_But you both died anyway._

_Shut up, conscience. _

His arms encircled her possessively, lovingly. "I know you won't. So there's no turning back now, is there?"

"Into the Abyss. But if you're with me, I'll fall willingly."

He tipped her chin up, eyes suddenly dark and enticing, a smile teasing about his lips. "Wanna fall?"

_I know that look. _"Fuck yeah." She shifted to a more comfortable position on his lap, and started kissing him. Kadaj reached up and undid the plastic clasp behind her neck, causing the front of her halter-top to fall forward, uncovering her breasts.

He had just lowered one hand to tease her erect nipple when someone banged on the door. "Laura? Ken? Is everything all right in there?" Denise called.

The couple jumped apart guiltily, both flushed a deep red. "Everything's fine, Denise! Ken just…" She looked at Kadaj, who shrugged helplessly. "Uh…" _Think, Laura, THINK!_ "Dinner didn't agree with him. I'm just getting some Pepto-Bismol for him. We'll be out in a minute."

"Is he all right?"

"He will be, once I get this medicine into him. Just watch the movie until we're back, ok?"

"Sure!"

Laura waited until Denise's footsteps had receded, then looked at Kadaj, who was unsuccessfully attempting to hide his hard-on. "Want some help with that?"

"Would you mind?" he inquired naughtily, cocking one eyebrow at her.

She knelt on the floor at the edge of the bed, smiling wickedly at him as she unzipped his fly. "You know I love how you taste, baby."


	25. Don't Do That! It's Killing Me! Do It!

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor:** I have just gotten back from Busch Gardens, and am pleased to announce that I am officially a roller coaster junkie! We got to see Griffon testing, but not ride it. Both me and my friend are very sad about that. And just to show you how weird I am, I am less afraid of the 90 degree straight-down vertical drop on Griffon then I am of the entirety of Alpengeist! Try to explain this, because I can't even explain it to myself! And now, we take a step back from my personal life and back to the fic at hand. So, we have another smut scene coming up. But before that, we finally see things from someone else's perspective, someone other than Laura. Oh, and pay no attention to the height problem during the smut sequence. Just assume that Kadaj is standing on a stool or something. And I am sure that, from the first word he says, you can all guess who is in Brian's head now.

Don't Do That! It's Killing Me!

Brian paced through his apartment, threatening to wear a hole through the cheap yellow carpet with his long, fast strides. "I can't believe she picked a loser like him," he muttered darkly. "I'm the one that loves her! I'd actually take care of her and the baby! He left her once; why'd she pick him over me?!"

He stopped in the middle of the floor and brought his clenched fists up before him, trembling with rage. "That bastard doesn't deserve you. I should be your husband; the right is mine! Do you hear me, Laura? _Mine!_

"And I would do anything to make you my wife and kill him. Absolutely _anything_."

_Ha! So you are willing to do whatever you must in order to see Specimen 15 destroyed and the woman your wife? Perhaps you will be of some use to me, then._

Brian spun around, shocked that someone had snuck into his apartment. A demented-sounding creep, by the sound of it. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

_Silence. Now, you will do anything to reach that conclusion, correct?_ Brian nodded dumbly. _Ha! Then perhaps we can create a mutually beneficial arrangement, if not a symbiotic relationship. You see, the woman has something I desire as well. _

"And that would be?" Brian inquired, crossing his arms over his chest and glowering at thin air."If you want her, forget it! She's mine!"

_I have no interest in a pitiful woman like her, although she would make a useful breeding vessel. Young, healthy, and strong. More than likely, extremely fertile as well. But I have no real desire or need for her. What I want is the specimen growing in her uterus. Once she has given birth to the specimen and raised it to the optimum age, I will have no further use for the woman. And the sire I have discovered to be useless, now that his genetic markers have been separated. He is no longer receptive of the cells. _

"What are you talking about? What cells?"

_Silence!_

A wave of pain washed over his brain, hotter than liquid fire. Brian dropped to his knees, fingers digging into his dark hair in an effort to keep his skull from exploding. But he refused to scream. He wasn't going to give whoever this was that kind of power over him.

_I am Professor Hojo, Head of Shinra's Scientific and Experimental Division. The most important man in the entire company. The specimen growing in the woman's uterus is vital for my purpose, or will be, once its assimilation with the cellular samples is complete. And then my son will come forth again, and come into direct conflict with the secret specimens under the structure. An experiment unparalleled in all of history! And no matter who wins, I will still be acknowledged as the genius I am! Hahahahahahahaha!_

Brian grit his teeth against the high-pitched, grating cackle. "What do you want with me?" he growled.

_A body, of course. I require a young, strong vessel in which to hide until the specimen has grown. And the benefits will be numerous for you, as well. Your rival for the woman's favor? Destroyed. The woman who has spurned your affection? Yours. The specimen tying them together? Gone. It will take a few years, of course, until the specimen is old enough to support my son's physical power, but in the end you shall get what you want. All that it requires is that you willingly accept my consciousness into your body. Do we have a deal?_

He didn't hesitate. "If you can get that silver-haired bastard out of my way and make Laura mine, then I'm willing! Hell yeah!"

_You are at least mildly intelligent, I see. Oh well. Can't expect perfection, I suppose. _

He scowled, then screamed in agony as his body erupted into fire.

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Laura lay on the couch with her head in Kadaj's lap, his fingers gently combing through her dark brown locks. They were watching _A Walk to Remember, _but neither was really paying attention to the screen. It was one of those quiet, cherished moments shared only with the person you loved the most, a moment when speech would seem as a mortal sin, a desecration of the worst kind.

_How I love this man. _She slid a hand down to her stomach. _You'll love him too, Alex/Livia._

What a turn her life had taken. Sucked into a CG movie, seduced and befriended and killed by three men who were not even supposed to exist, and now engaged to their leader, the one acknowledged as the most dangerous and crazy of the trio, as well as pregnant with his child. It was like some kind of dream or stupid, cheap sci-fi novel.

But this was no dream or silly book. This was reality.

_How did I ever get so lucky?_

There was a soft thumping noise from the spare bedroom, followed immediately by another one. Laura had to smile; Denise was suffering from insomnia. Whenever she couldn't get to sleep, Denise would raise one leg high off the bed and let it drop, over and over again, until she was totally exhausted.

Best part was, she would not leave that room until she woke up in the morning.

No matter what.

Laura rolled her head until she was looking at her lover. He looked at her curiously. "Have you ever had perpendicular sex?"

"Ummm… No?"

She rolled off the couch and got to her feet, casting him a seductive look as she flounced for the kitchen. Kadaj, interest flickering in his yellow-green eyes, followed. Laura hoisted herself up on the kitchen island.

"We're going to have to keep this quiet," she murmured, looping her arms around his neck when he moved between her legs. "Never tried this before?"

"No. Never thought of it." He leaned in to kiss her. "But ready and willing, as always."

"Gotta make sure Denise doesn't hear us. Don't want her walking in on us, after all." She relaxed into his kiss, already working his shirt upwards. _Just doesn't seem fair that he can have this kind of muscles. He just looks too skinny to be this well-defined. But hey, I'm not complaining!_ Her hands skated up the expanse of washboard abs as he pulled the shirt off and threw it aside, her fingers tracing the defined shapes beneath his milk-pale skin. In a definite reversal of gender roles, Laura leaned forward and playfully flicked her tongue over one of his nipples.

Kadaj froze, eyes wide. "Do that again," he whispered hoarsely. Laura cocked one brow, then slid her hands up his back to bring him closer and slid her tongue up and over the other nipple. His head fell back and a shuddering moan escaped his lips, long and low.

_So that's his hotspot. Now I know how to shut him up when he gets too mouthy. _She smiled mischieviously and took one between her lips, sucking gently while massaging with her tongue.

A hand fisted in her hair and pulled her away from his chest. "Evil, Laura. That was evil." She gasped as he grabbed a knife from the rack beside the sink, holding it right at the neckline of her t-shirt. "And it demands reciprocation."

The shirt was torn and useless a moment later, the knife having never so much as grazed her delicate skin. He threw the knife into the wall and spread the halves of the shirt, exposing her breasts but not removing the shirt. He flashed her a wicked grin and lowered his head.

Laura had to bite her lip and dig her fingers into his silvery hair to keep from yelling when he began licking and biting at her nipples. _Oh man! An orgasm already? I am so dead! He's only just getting started!_

So engrossed was she in keeping quiet that it took a few minutes before she realized that he had unbuttoned the top of her shorts and was currently sliding them down her legs, catching her underwear en route. She became even more concerned and intrigued when the shorts hit the ground and she felt his hands slipping down her sides, mouth still teasing her sensitive nipples.

His fingers spread her wide open, and his thumb brushed over her clit. Laura's spine jerked, and she had to put her arms back, to brace herself, to prevent herself from falling backwards onto the polished stone surface. She chewed at her lower lip as he continued to suck and lick at her breasts, as well as slip two fingers in and out of her creamy passage while rubbing his thumb over her clit. _Nonoisenonoisenonoisenonoise… Oh hell with it!_ She snatched a dishtowel from the sink and covered her mouth with it, screaming her orgasm into the smelly, lightly-stained fabric. Kadaj gripped her thighs to keep her from coming off the island, and straightened to watch her jerk and spasm as her nerves overloaded with pleasure.

By the time Laura managed to stop coming apart, he had unbuttoned his jeans and was gently coaxing her into lying down. "Hold my legs together," she instructed breathlessly, reaching back to grab the lip of the stone surface. He nodded and lifted her legs high into the air, one hand encircling her ankles tightly. The other hand was used to guide his cock into her body.

"Holy, Laura! I didn't think it was possible for you to get any tighter!" he gasped, commencing the slow rhythm that they both loved.

"Gotta be quiet," she reminded him, breasts heaving as the pleasure intensified. "Oh God… Don't stop…"

"Not possible…to stop…" He kissed the back of her calves and leaned his forehead against them, still thrusting in and out of her. "It'd kill me if I did… Shit, Laura! Do you want me to lose it that fast?"

She had tightened her muscles around him, hard. "Sorry. Couldn't…couldn't help it."

"Well, help it! You don't know – aww fuck! – what that does to me!" His movements sped up, increasing the friction even more. "Holy fuck, where did you learn this?"

"Book. Show you later." She arched her back as she hit her climax. "Yes! Now, Kadaj! Now!"

"Fuck, baby!" His nails carved into her ankles and right thigh as he reached his peak, head flung back to the sky. She knew from past experience that his face was blood-red at the moment, eyes squeezed tightly shut. Normally, he was howling at this point.

A few moments later, he let her legs down and collapsed atop her, breathing heavily against her stomach. "Shit, that was a good one."

"Isn't it always?"

"Yeah, always good. Just better than usual this time."

"If this is what passes for 'better,' I'd love to see what 'excellent' consists of for you two."

The couple froze, and Laura levered herself up so she could see the doorway over her cleavage. Denise was leaning against the jamb, looking extremely smug.

"So, it's Kadaj, is it? Nice to know your real name, even if it is a little late." She looked over the island, and the partially-nude couple atop it, with a critical eye. "Just so you know, Laura, I refuse to eat at that island until it's been sterilized."


	26. Cat's Out!

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **Ok, so I am nearing the end of my fresh-meat year of college. Yes, you read that right. Fresh-_meat_. You know those old cartoons where the boxer looks at Bugs Bunny while beating up some poor, helpless sap and goes "Ahhh… Fresh meat!" before going after Bugs? Yeah, that basically describes my upperclassmates' reactions to us newbies at the beginning of the year. Anyway, I don't know how often I can update, seeing as how finals are coming up (F.I.N.A.L.S: **F**uck **I N**ever** A**ctually **L**earned this **S**hit) and I have at least two term papers to write as well. Yay college! Rah rah rah! Anyway, I promise I'll get back to this as soon as I can. I am nowhere near finished with it yet. In the meantime, if anything gets posted it will be under my drabble/oneshot fic, "Evidence of Sephiroth's Humanity." Basically, my efforts to make Sephiroth seem as human as the rest of us, highs and lows included. So enjoy the chapter, drop me a review, and I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can.

Cat's Out

Laura pushed Kadaj off of her and slid off the island, stepping into her shorts and yanking them up as fast as she could. Kadaj fastened his jeans, but didn't reach for his shirt. Proudly, defiantly, he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Denise.

She snorted. "Don't look at me like that, big boy. I'm not the one who just fucked my fiancé on the counter."

Laura pulled the remains of her shirt together as fast as she could. "Denise, I thought you were going to stay in your room. You always do!"

"I got thirsty and wanted a drink. Then I heard you two, and got curious. Who wouldn't be?"

"How long were you standing there?" Kadaj asked stiffly.

"Long enough to realize that I've been told a pack of lies." The taller woman went to the sink and poured herself a glass of water, then went into the living room. "C'mon, you two. Let's have a chat, shall we?" She glanced over her shoulder threateningly when they failed to follow her. "That was not a suggestion."

_Shit! If she's figured us out… Oh no. She did say she heard me say Kadaj's name…_

_God help us._

They followed her into the living room and seated themselves on the couch across from Denise. _How is it that I'm a year older than her, and she can still make me feel like a naughty little girl?_ The other woman crossed her legs and folder her hand primly across her knees.

"Now. Let's get some facts out of the way. Is your name 'Ken?' Be honest, now."

Kadaj hesitated, then shook his head. His hand tightened on Laura's.

"There, wasn't that easy?" Denise beamed, and pressed onwards. "If your name is not Ken, then what is it?"

He didn't answer.

"Come, now. Is it so hard to say your name? You know mine. You know Laura's. Why don't you tell me yours?"

"It's Kadaj," he whispered.

"What was that?" she teased, cupping one hand behind her ear.

"My name is Kadaj."

Denise nodded in satisfaction. "Laura, may I ask why you have _Kadaj_, the leader of the Silver-Haired Men and heartless son of Jenova, in your home? Why are you marrying him and why are you carrying his child?"

Laura licked her lips and launched into her story. Through it all, Denise merely sat there, nodding every now and then.

_She doesn't believe this. How could she believe it? It sounds ridiculous! Preposterous! Completely absurd! But it happened! Denise, you have to believe me! You _have_ to!_

When she was finished, having related every last detail up to Kadaj's unexpected return a few nights ago, Denise sat back, lost in thought. Kadaj squeezed Laura's hand, and she smiled at him gratefully.

_Please believe me. Please. _

_And don't tell anyone. He doesn't deserve to be studied again. Not by Shinra's scientists, and not by Earth's scientists and doctors. Never again. _

"I guess truth really is stranger than fiction."

Laura raised her head hopefully.

"And the proof is right here. I mean, he's sitting right there. I can't close my eyes and say that he doesn't exist, after all." She smiled impishly. "Besides, I yanked his hair earlier. I know _that _was real enough."

"You're not going to tell anyone, are you?" Kadaj asked. Laura heard a tremor of fear in his voice.

"No, because all three of us would get hauled off to the nuthouse." She rubbed her forehead wearily. "And I have no intention of getting carted off in a straitjacket. So, I won't tell anyone. However…"

_Here it comes…_

"I want you and Kadaj to watch Sarah while Jim and I go on our second honeymoon in a few months. Do that, and I'll just forget that he's anything more than your fiancé and father of my godchild. Do we have a deal?"

_Not like we have much of a friggin' choice…_ "Yeah, Denise. Sure." Laura rubbed her thumb over Kadaj's knuckles absently.

"Wonderful! Now, let's all go to sleep, shall we? You two have to go looking for a wedding location tomorrow, and I have some shopping to do. I need a bridesmaid dress, and Sarah needs to look like a cute little flower girl. So, off to bed with you!" She pulled the couple off the couch and pushed them down the hall and into Laura's room. "Sleep!" The door slammed shut behind them, and a few seconds later they heard the spare bedroom/future nursery's door close. Laura looked at Kadaj.

"Shall we obey her?" she mumbled. _That could have gone so much worse…_

She let out a squeal as Kadaj swept her up into his arms and carried her over to the bed, dumping her onto the comforter with a naughty grin. "Where's that book you were talking about, Laura?" he asked, spreading the halves of her shirt again.

"But Denise said…" She gasped and he ripped the shorts off her body, as easily as if they were made of silk. _Whoa! And those were denim shorts!_

"Denise is not your mother." He undid his jeans and kicked them off. "Now, where is that book?"

"Under the bed."

Kadaj reached under the bed and pulled out _The New Kama Sutra_. Laura took it from him and they flipped through it, occasionally discussing some of the more acrobatic positions and deciding that they wanted to try them once Denise was gone.

Kadaj pointed to one of the photographs, a position that had the man kneeling on his haunches while the woman lay on her back, one foot pressed against his upper chest while the other leg was wrapped around his waist. "Looks interesting. Wanna try it? I know you're flexible enough for it."

"Why not? Besides, I know you like watching the show below."

LKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLK

It was virtually impossible for Denise to get any sleep that night. "Hope that bed collapses on them. Metal frame and all," she mumbled, pressing the pillow as hard against her ears as she possibly could.

There was a loud crashing noise from next-door, as well as a surprised outcry from the couple therein. Denise grinned and hugged her pillow, thankful that God had chosen to grant her small request.

Then she heard Laura screaming out her lover's name, followed by his reply in kind, and groaned softly, defeated. It would take more than a broken bed to stop the bedroom antics of those two. Much more.


	27. Big Day

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **For some reason, I just can't make the whole chapter for searching for a location, looking for a dress, etc, work. So we're skipping ahead about two months to the actual wedding. Yes, I know this is a little lazy of me. But I've spent three weeks spazzing over that chapter, and it just wasn't working. So I'm not doing it. It's in the trash, it's going out to the dump, and it's gone forever. Anyway, so here's the long-awaited update. Hope you enjoy, because this whole fiasco with The Chapter That Never Was has drained me. I know the ending is more than a little cheesy and cliché. But this is only part one of the wedding. There's still the reception and honeymoon after this!

Big Day

_There is no way that woman could possibly be me. She has to be someone else!_

Laura stared at herself in the mirror, unable to believe that the beautiful creature framed therein was actually her. Denise and her younger sister, Natalie, had made her look like a model bride, with perfect makeup and the best hairdo imaginable. Natalie had also taken care of her jewelry and manicure. Now wearing their lavender bridesmaid's dresses, the sisters hovered in the background, bickering over how the veil should be fastened to the tiara while Laura continued her gawking.

The dress was pristine white, the strapless bodice decorated with silver seed-beads. Denise had added a sash of extremely light blue silk to the ensemble, a color that set off her eyes pretty well. It was a dress that had cost a pretty penny, but Laura considered it well worth the price. And the sash filled the 'something blue' part of the old rhyme. The jewelry was her 'something borrowed:' Natalie had brought her entire jewelry box with her from South Dakota, and selected a gorgeous silver bracelet and necklace, to go with the seed-pearls and Laura's multitude of earrings. 'Something old' was a picture of Yazoo and Loz, printed off the Internet and strapped to her thigh by her garter. And her 'something new?'

Well, Kadaj would be finding out what that was after they ditched the reception and snuck off to the honeymoon suite upstairs.

So here she was, waiting to go out into the hotel's auditorium before all of her ex-coworkers, some old friends from college she had managed to track down, and two of her old fellow druggies. Her mother, of course, had not shown up for the ceremony. Kadaj didn't have that many guests compared to her list, just the members of his band and some coworkers. The auditorium was less than halfway full, but that really didn't matter to Laura. All that mattered was that soon she and her beloved silver-haired man would be married.

In the past months, Kadaj had found himself a job in a private academy nearby, as a fencing instructor. He had become popular with the younger female teachers, and made a few friends among the academy's administration and teaching staff. Along with the fencing position, Kadaj had starting hanging around with the music teacher and joined the young man's rock band, Screaming Fury. He was learning to play guitar, but right now he was the lead singer. Weekend gigs in nightclubs and bars brought in a tidy profit, and it was a hobby. Laura had absolutely no problem with it, and often went to his performances. Screaming Fury was popular with the teens, and their sound was good. There were even whispers of a pending record deal.

But none of that mattered right now. In a few minutes, the ceremony would begin and he would be Mr. Kenneth Kerrington.

Laura's hands slipped down to the minute bump that pushed at her bodice. And her baby would be legitimate.

She would never have believed that something like that would ever matter to her, but it did. It really mattered to her that her baby would know who its father was, and that it would get to know him. She hadn't had that chance, but she would make sure that this baby would. _Don't want my baby to grow up with a single mother like me. Or Beth, for that matter, even though Natalie's doing pretty good for a single. _

"It's nearly time, girlfriend. You ready?" Denise asked, pinning the tiara and veil to Laura's hair.

_I don't think you can ever be ready for something like this_. But she nodded anyway, because putting the ceremony off would only mean that Kadaj had to remain in his hated tux that much longer. Natalie handed her the bouquet of red roses and babies' breath, and as Laura wrapped her hands around the gathered stems she inhaled and exhaled steadily, reminding herself that she had to breathe.

Denise and Natalie preceded her to the auditorium, with Natalie's daughter Beth at her mother's side. Beth had been enlisted as flower girl, since Sarah was just a little too young for the job. As for a ringbearer, they didn't have one. Jesse, the best man, had the rings in his pocket. Nobody was giving Laura away, and she didn't have any family members to come witness her wedding apart from her estranged mother. Kadaj didn't either, but they both figured that Yazoo and Loz were watching them, wherever they were.

_Ok. Deep breath Laura, deep breath. Oh god, that's the Wedding March playing! Stop panicking. It's just a lousy song. _

Funny how she wanted this so badly, but her fear of commitment was plaguing her even now, demanding that she flee.

For the sake of the man she loved and their child, she was _not_ going to become a runaway bride.

Beth went through the doors and began down the aisle, sprinkling rose petals everywhere with abandon. Some of her tosses even hit the guests, much to their amusement. And just as her mother and aunt came to the center of the aisle, she ran out of rose petals and chucked the basket into the rows of seated witnesses before taking her place on the stage.

Laura had to raise a hand to her mouth to keep from laughing out loud, but many of the guests were snickering. The pastor, Kadaj, and Denise's husband John were desperately trying to hold back their laughter. Denise was laughing outright, and though Natalie tried to quietly scold her daughter when she reached the stage, she ended up giggling too.

_Ok, that was amusing. I really needed to laugh like that. God bless the children; they know not what they do._

As "Here Comes the Bride" started to play, Laura walked down the aisle with confidence she had been previously lacking, eyes latched onto those of her groom. Kadaj was dressed in a black tuxedo and silvery-blue cummerbund, and he looked a little uncomfortable in the dress clothes. But when he saw her, his yellow-green eyes filled with delight and love.

_He does want this. I can't deny him this; I love him too much to hurt him by running away. And oh god, he looks handsome. _

_Must admit, though, I prefer the leather. _

Heart pounding, Laura mounted the steps to the stage and crossed it to take her place opposite Kadaj.

_Keep your eyes on his, and you won't get scared. Let him hypnotize you. Don't look away._

And she didn't.

Last night, she had confessed her terror to him, and he had suggested a solution. That if she kept her eyes on his, focused on nothing but him, maybe she wouldn't be so scared. It was working; she felt her heartbeat slow to something resembling normalacy, and her panic faded.

She wasn't even afraid when she heard herself whisper, "I do."

Soon the ring was slid onto her finger, and she had put his ring on his finger. And when the pastor pronounced them husband and wife, she felt her heart soar.

Her baby would be born legitimate. She had a husband. She would never have believed it would ever happen to her, but here she was.

Married. To a gorgeous man who should never have existed in this world.

_Don't you dare faint now, Laura!_

"You may kiss the bride."

_Kiss him already!_

Of all the kisses she had exchanged with her silver-haired man, this was the best one of all.


	28. Baby Makes Three

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor:** This is precisely why I miss my computer. I was working on that second half of the wedding chapter, and was just about finished with it, when I foolishly left the window open after signing off AOL when I thought the window had gone down. Well, my mother got on the computer the next morning and found the window; being the nosy mother that she is, she read it and deleted it out of disgust. She deleted the file as well, as luck would have it. And I got a stern lecture (not the first time!) about writing porn on _her _computer. Fear not; I shall still write and post smut on _her_ computer, as well as mine when I get it back out of storage. You can just be assured that I'll be making ABSOLUTELY sure the windows have gone down next time! The bad news is that I can't rewrite the reception/honeymoon chapter. That chapter was typed late at night, and I can't remember much of what I wrote. Am I happy about this? No. Dare I risk rewriting it when I know my mom's watching for it? Also no. I value my continued existence, thank you very much! So, sorry about the last chapter, but it's not going to be coming back. Here we are, skipping about six months into the future after the wedding... Oh, and we're switching to Kadaj's POV for this chapter. Laura will be back in the next one. She's just a bit too exhausted for commentary in this one, you understand.

And Baby Makes Three

Kadaj had never seen a birth before. He had only ever known about sex when it came to reproduction, not pregnancy and labor. Laura's pregnancy had been as difficult for him as it had been for her: he had had to deal with her mood swings, morning sickness, odd cravings (and the late night grocery runs that went with them), daily aches and pains, and of course The Bump. That thing had been in her way, in his way, in _everybody's_ way!

But now that it was gone, Kadaj was surprised to realize that he actually was starting to miss it. It would be a long time before Laura woke him up at some ungodly hour of the night again, when he was exhausted from his job to inform him that the baby was kicking and she wanted him to feel it. They wouldn't be able to do an impromtu dance in the kitchen or the bathroom anymore in an attempt to move around each other without hurting The Bump. There would be no more of her endless squirming at night as she tried to get comfortable, at last prompting him to reach out and snake and arm around her upper body to pull her tightly against him, just to keep her still so he could go to sleep.

He'd been to the lamaze classes. He'd watched the movies. But they still hadn't been enough to prepare him for the actual experience of watching his beloved wife go through labor, of pushing their baby out into its new world. It was messy, it was loud, it had given him a headache, Laura had just about pulped his hand squeezing it during the contractions...

But it was definately the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life.

And now it was over. Their daughter was held securely in Laura's arms, her name (Olivia Yazmin Kerrington) written on the birth certificate. The nurses and obstetrician had slipped out of the room to give the new family time to get used to each other. Kadaj was propped up on the bed beside his wife, one arm around her shoulder as he examined his daughter.

_Silver hair, darker than mine... Eyes are blue, but they're supposed to be that color right now, right? Rosy cheeks... The longest fingers and toes the nurses have ever seen... She's got Laura's face, but my nose and mouth... _

"She's beautiful," he murmured, reaching out with one finger to stroke the sleeping infant's velvety profile.

"She's _ours_," Laura retorted softly. "She was worth all the heartbreak and pain. More than worth it."

Kadaj arched one brow at that before understanding hit. _Oh. _

Laura hadn't been talking about the hell she'd been put through physically since she'd gotten pregnant.

"Want to have more just like her?" he asked, shifting the mood back and away from painful memories.

"Give me some time to think it over, ok?" Laura transferred her gaze from the angelic face of their baby to the softened countenance of her husband. "Thank you, Kadaj. For everything."

"There's no need to thank me." He leaned in to press a kiss to her left temple. "I love you, Laura."

"I love you too, Kadaj."

Baby Livia stirred then, fussing quietly. The noise attracted one of the nurses, who came in to show Laura how to breast-feed her new daughter.

Watching his wife give nourishment to their child, Kadaj was unable to recall a time when he had ever been so content with his life. So at peace.

_And I found it without you, Jenova. Turns out I didn't need you after all._


	29. Shouldn't Be Alive

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor:** More problems with figuring out how the hell to get this fic to the point where I want it to be. So, this is two years after the last chapter. There is going to be one more year-jump sequence coming up next, but the second part of the plot shall begin after that. I've got it all mapped out after that point, but bear with me until I get to that point. It shouldn't be too long, I promise! Yeah, I know there are immunosupressent drugs that can help in this situation, but I'm being mean to Laura here for a reason. Just trust me on that. There is a reason why Livia is alive and the others aren't, but I'll get to that later. And... I must confess that I am a review whore. So, reviews please!!!

Shouldn't Be Alive

Livia proved to be an intelligent, loving child. She adored her father, following him around constantly as he tinkered with his custom-made Harley and practiced his swordplay every evening. Laura had to admit that she was a little jealous of Kadaj's relationship with their daughter, but she didn't complain. Livia was a delight, and there would be more children as soon as they stopped using protection again. Surely one of them would be her kid as much as Livia was Kadaj's.

Except...

There _weren't _any more kids.

It made no sense. Livia had been concieved (as far as Laura could tell) on the night she had lost her virginity to Kadaj. Extreme fertility seemed to run in her family, and she and Kadaj were having sex every night as soon as their daughter had gone to bed. So why wasn't she getting pregnant?

She decided to find out, and set up an appointment with her OB/Gyn.

LKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLK

Laura was sitting on the couch reading, Evanescence playing on the stereo. Kadaj was due home in a few hours, and Livia was at a kiddie day camp in Central Park. She had three hours of uninterrupted peace in front of her. Sighing happily as she relaxed into the cushions, she reached for her glass of wine and turned the page.

The phone rang.

Glaring at the noisy intrusion, she perversely decided to stay where she was and let the answering machine pick it up. _Kitchen's so far away, and I'm so comfortable... Unless it's an emergency, I'm not getting up. _

The machine clicked on after the fourth ring. "This is the Cavern of Clan Kerrington. If you are trying to reach Laura, the Resident Matriarch, her mate Ken, or their baby, Livia, please leave a message after the hoot." A sound much akin to a gibbon howling erupted from the answering machine, making Laura snicker. The monkeys at the zoo had been so obliging that day.

"Hello Laura. This is your OB and gynocologist, Dr. Harris. I was going to tell you this in person, but I'm going to be out of town for a few days and so I decided the phone was better than keeping you hanging. I have the results back from your tests, and I'm afraid it's bad news..."

Laura was in the kitchen with the phone to her ear before her book finished falling to the floor. "Hello, doctor? This is Laura."

_Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod... Why can't I get pregnant? _

"Laura, this is not going to be easy to hear. But the results are indisputable." The doctor's voice hjad taken on the solemn, slightly-sad-but-totally-professional tone any patient dreaded to hear. Laura felt her pulse racing, and swallowed hard.

"What were the results?"

"I honestly have no idea how you could have concieved and carried your daughter to full term. By all medical rights, she shouldn't be alive."

_What? _

_Quit stalling! Why can't I get pregnant? Tell me!_

"You see, Laura... Your uterus..." There was a sigh on the other line. "Well, to put it simply, you have a genetic condition which causes your immune system to attack any fertilized eggs that come into your uterus. You can't get pregnant because your own body is killing the babies before they become fetuses.

Laura fell back against the wall, her boneless legs sliding out from under her so she slid limply to the floor, shocked. _It can't be... No. No!_ "Are you sure?" she whispered.

"Absolutely."

"Isn't there a drug or something I can take?"

"There is a drug, but it's still in the experimental stage and it's extremely expensive. I'm so sorry, Laura. I know how badly you wanted more children."

_Want... But can't have._

Laura thanked the doctor with a wooden voice and switched off the phone, then curled up as the tears began to fall.

By the time Kadaj got home, Laura had moved to the bedroom and buried herself beneath the blankets, unable to stop the tears. From her nest, she heard him calling her name but found herself unable to voice a reply. Instead she just burrowed deeper into the mattress and curled tighter around her treacherous womb.

_Why me? Why?_

"Laura?" She heard the bedroom door open, and the soft creak of footsteps across the floor. Something made the bed dip down behind her, and she didn't resist as the blankets were gently peeled away from her upper body. "Laura, what's wrong?"

His concern made her feel twice as miserable, and more tears leaked from the corners of her swollen blue eyes. _He wants more kids as much as I do... And I can't give them to him!_

Kadaj slipped his arms around her and pulled her up from the sheet, settling her on his lap against his shoulder. Stroking her dark brown hair away from her eyes, he tried to get her to talk to him. "Laura, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

"You can't help me with this," she choked out. "Not even God can help me with this."

"Could you at least tell me what's made you so upset? You don't cry this easily."

_He's your husband. He has a right to know... Even if he leaves you for it._

"Kadaj, I..." She fisted her hand tightly in his shirt, thankful on a subconscious level that he did not have a hairy chest. Otherwise, he would have thrown her off him with a yell right then. "Don't leave me. Please don't leave me."

"Laura, I promised I wouldn't leave you. Never again." He hugged her softly, and kissed her brow. "I married you, didn't I?"

_But you won't stay with me when you hear what I have to tell you. What man would?_

"Yes, you did."

"So what did you have to tell me?"

"Well..." _Now or never. And he definately has to know._ "You remember how I went to see Dr. Harris for some tests a few days ago, right?"

Kadaj nodded, still stroking her hair.

"I...got the test back today."

"And what were the results?"

_Deep breath. Now... Go!_ "Umm...Imnotcapableofhavinganymorebabies," she mumbled.

"What?" The hand on her hair stilled. "Say it again."

"Icanthaveanybabies."

"Slower."

She hid her face against his neck, terrified that she was about to lose him again. "I can't have anymore babies. The doctor said there's no possible way I could ever carry another child. I can concieve, but the moment it enters my uterus my immune system attacks and kills it. That's why I haven't been able to get pregnant. My body kills our children before their life can even begin."

She felt him go stiff and still beneath her. "So Livia is all we'll ever have?"

"Yes."

Laura didn't know what she was expecting. For him to dump her off his lap, curse her, and storm out of her life, never to be seen again. For him to take Livia and abandon her on the streets. For him to leave her for a prettier, younger woman with larger breasts and a definate possibility of giving him children.

Instead, his grip became more gentle, and he relaxed, pulling her more tightly against him. This tiny gesture spoke volumes to Laura's beleagured mind.

She lifted her head and gave him an amazed look. "You...aren't going to leave?"

Kadaj shook his head. "I came to Earth for you. I married you. I won't leave you again." He hugged her again. "Yes, I wanted a big family. But we do have Livia. And if worse comes to worse, we can always adopt or something. But I'm not leaving."

_He's staying... Even though I can't give him the family he wanted... _

His reassurance made her feel better, but she still felt incomplete, like half a woman. And so the tears came again, soaking into his shirt as he rested his head against her own in shared sorrow for the children they had already lost...

And the ones they would never have.


	30. Eighth Anniversary and the REAL PLOT!

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away. Also, I don't own the Metal Mulisha. They're really cool trick riders though; check 'em out!

**Queen's Quornor: **Last time-jump, I swear! Ok, so Olivia is now 7 years old. Kadaj and Laura are going out on their eighth anniversary. Bryan gets hired to watch their daughter for the night. Refer back to chapter 22 if you don't quite remember what my foreshadowing consisted of. The main storyline begins here... Yes, all the chapters before were only the prologue! Reviews please? I'd like to hear your thoughts on this new development.

Eighth Anniversary: Main Plot Begins

"All right. So you have the number for the resteraunt and our cell phone numbers. Are you going to be ok with this?" Laura asked, fastening her earrings. She looked at Bryan through the mirror, her sapphire gaze questioning.

"I'll be fine." He seemed moody for some reason.

_Probably because he's never babysat before. _

She reached for her lipstick and began doing her lips. That done, she began putting blush on her inner arm, to hide the ropey scar from her teenage years. "Okay. Livia has already eaten, but she can have a cookie and some fruit if she gets hungry. She can watch tv until 9, at which point she is to get her bath. Bubble bath. She won't go to sleep if she takes a regular one. And you'll have to read her a story. Right now she's fixated on _The Hobbit_; we're on the chapter with Gollum, "Riddles in the Dark." Read her the chapter, and then she'll go to sleep. There's a nightlight in her room so you can turn the light out, and..."

"Laura, we'll be _fine_." Bryan crossed his arms and leaned against the door, watching her put on her makeup. "You and Ken just have a good time. Don't worry about Livia."

_Guess he's right. An anniversary only comes once a year, after all. And this is our eighth. _

_Yes, dammit! We deserve a night to relax for once!_

"All right, then." Clipping on her bracelet and her gift from Kadaj - a diamond solitaire necklace - Laura went out into the hallway and into the living room where her husband was waiting. Bryan followed, his expression still sour.

Kadaj was sitting on the couch waiting for her, dressed in a black tux and tie. They were going to see a play and then to one of the nicest resteraunts in the Big Apple, a place Laura could never have afforded on her former salary. She had left the advertising industry behind entirely when Olivia was four; Kadaj had gotten accepted into the Metal Mulisha, and between television appearances and stunt shows, the cash was _rolling _in.

He smiled and stood up when Laura walked into the room. "You look beautiful, Laura. Ready to go?"

"Thank you. You look pretty handsome yourself." _Good enough to eat, in fact. Which is exactly what I'm hoping on doing before the night's over. _"Yes, let's go." She went over to her daughter and smoothed back her long silver hair. "Livia, we're leaving now. Be good for Uncle Bryan, ok?"

"Sure, Mom." Livia was laying on her stomach in front of the television, her electric-blue eyes glued to an old episode of Invader Zim. "Have a good time."

"We'll be certain to. Good-bye, Bryan." Kadaj guided her out the door and down to the car. As she settled into the leather interior, Laura had a sudden chill of foreboding.

_Something doesn't feel right..._

She shook herself as her silver-haired man revved up the engine. _Everything's fine. You're worrying about nothing._

She didn't look back at the apartment as they drove away.

LKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLK

_Now's the time, _his familiar voice rasped. _Insert the movie inside the machine and I shall do the rest. _

Bryan nodded and went to the movie-case. He had long since gotten used to following Hojo's orders. Running his finger along the smooth backs of the dvd cases, he came to one dusty case against the wood.

Laura's favorite movie, until that silver-haired bastard had come into her life. She hadn't watched it in years.

He pulled it out and went to the dvd player. Livia sat up behind him.

"Uncle Bryan, I was watching that!"

"I have something better for you to watch, Livia. Have you ever heard of this movie?" he inquired, holding up the case.

"Final Fantasy Seven: Advent Children? No."

He smirked. "Believe me. It's to _die _for." The dvd was pushed in, and Bryan sat down next to the girl, waiting for his coexistent to... whatever he was going to do.

He didn't have to wait long. The gray background, the shape-forming black lines, the flashes... Everything Hojo had told him about was right there on the screen. He smiled; soon, Laura would be his at long last, and that so-called 'husband' of hers would be nothing but a forgotten memory. A dead memory.

Livia screamed as brilliant white light flooded the apartment.


	31. Our Deepest Fears Become Our Reality

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **Heheheheheheh... Yes, I know I'm evil. Giving you all that buildup, making you think it was the real storyline, and only now beginning the true plot. Well, first we have another appearance from some old friends. And if you can pick up on what Zack's talking about at the end, you get a cookie! One last thing: Aerith and Zack's speech will have quote marks around them, just so you can tell when they're speaking and Laura's thinking.

Our Deepest Fears Become Our Reality

Seated in the playhouse with Kadaj, Laura suddenly felt sick to her stomach. A second later the theater, her husband, and the people around her vanished as she was suddenly transported into a familiar field of flowers encompassed by featureless white.

"Aerith?" she called. _What the heck does she want me for now? I'm in the middle of my anniversary!_

_'Laura, it's happened.' _

She whirled around, but didn't see anything. "What's happened?"

_'The one thing we all feared from the night Kadaj was returned to you.' _A male voice this time, presumably Zack's.

Her body went cold as the meaning of his words slammed home. "You mean Hojo... Livia!"

_'Yes. The reason we couldn't find Hojo was because he found a willing host in your world who hid him from view.' _

"Who was it?" _Tell me who it is so I can rip his nuts off and stuff them down his throat! And fuck him with his own dick! And then tear him to pieces with a cheese grater!_

_'Well... Violent, aren't we?'_

_'Zack, quiet. Laura, it was your friend. Bryan!'_

"Bryan? What?"

_'We don't know the details. But we do know that he and your daughter, along with Hojo's consciousness, are now in Gaia. Probably on their way to Shinra Manor.'_

"I have to get to Gaia. Send me and Kadaj to Gaia!" _Who cares if they're all-powerful beings? I have to save my daughter before it's too late!_

_'It's not the simple. You have to be near the movie disc and the television, and we need some extra power to cast the spell. A storm isn't cooperating this time,' _Zack explained to her.

"We'll do what we can. Just get us to Gaia. I'm not leaving my daughter with that maniac!"

_'Hurry home. Get extra power to the tv. We'll take care of the rest.'_

_'Actually Zack, I will. You'll be busy with them, remember?'_

_'Oh yeah. Forgot.' _

_'Hurry, Laura. I don't know how much time we have.'_

And before she could say a word, she was back in the theater, watching 'The Tempest.' She turned to Kadaj.

"We have to get home. Now!" she said in a whisper.

"Why?" He looked confused.

She only had to say a single word. "Hojo."

They were out of that theater a moment later, racing for the car. The drive home was absolutely hair-raising, with Kadaj weaving between cars at every opportunity and driving as quickly as traffic would allow him. Laura clutched at the dashboard, eyes fixated on the road.

_Please God, let them still be home! Let Aerith and Zack have been an illusion! Let Livia be safe in her bed! PLEASE!_

They were out of the car as soon as the engine was off, not even bothering to shut the doors behind them. Eschewing the elevator and flying up the stairs, they burst through the door and ran into their apartment.

"Livia? Livia!" Laura yelled.

"Livia! Where are you?"

"Check her room. I'll check the tv."

The television was still on. Pushing the open/close button on the DVD player, Laura felt her heart stop.

The _Advent Children _movie disc.

"_No!_"

At her cry, Kadaj came running into the living room. If possible, he turned even paler when he saw the disc in the open tray. "They're gone. Livia's not in her bed."

_No... How could this have happened? Why did Bryan let Hojo in? What did he offer him that he would have taken? How could he have kidnapped Livia? He loves her!_

_Now Sephiroth will be resurrected in my daughter. Cloud and the others won't be able to defeat him, because they'll be busy with Deepground. And Hojo will be able to destroy the Planet, his final experiment. And everyone will die. _

_No. _

_Not while I'm still alive. _

Laura slowly stood up, her resolve as steady as ever. "Get changed, Kadaj.

"We're going back to Gaia."


	32. Oh My God

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **Bet you're all wondering where these guns came from. Well, Laura's grandfather was a gun-nut, and he died about two years ago in this timeline. Which means Laura got his guns. The rest of the inheritance comes when her grandmother kicks the bucket (ain't gonna happen in this fic, to Laura's absolute relief). And as I said in a different fic ("Sins of the Father" in the Devil May Cry ficdom) I suspect that Earth is less magic-heavy than other worlds that use it on a regular basis. We don't have a Lifestream here, so I bet materia is at least five times more difficult to use here than it is over there. Now how many of you were expecting this development at the end?

Oh My God

Dressed in jeans and a black tank-top, some of her grandfather's guns tucked into their thigh holsters with a ton of spare bullets in a small knapsack at her feet, Laura stood impatiently waiting for her husband in the living room.

_I'll shoot Bryan in the face if I have to. He was my friend once, but he also kidnapped my daughter. And that is something I cannot forgive. _

_Bryan dies the next time I see him. _

"Laura." She raised her head to see Kadaj emerging from the hallway, dressed in his leather bodysuit with Souba in the loop on his back. This was the same Kadaj who had come into her life when she believed him dead, right down to the last immaculate strand of silver hair covering his right eye, save for one small thing.

_Since when does Kadaj use a shotgun?_

"I figured you might want something with a bit more kick than those Glocks," he remarked, passing her the gun. This was one of the newer models in her grandfather's collection, a sleek black pump-action double-barrel made entirely from metal, a far cry from the wood-stock duck-gun of yesteryear. Laura smiled and slung the shotgun's strap over her shoulder, taking the proffered boxes of ammo and putting them in the knapsack.

"Think I have enough to keep me alive?" she asked half-jokingly, holding out her arms to display her collective firepower. Kadaj looked her over, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"Between the guns and your jui-jitsu, and that knife I know you have in your boot, you'll probably last a day or so."

"Well, that's comforting." Laura looked at his arm. "Do you still have the BahamutSIN materia?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Can you channel a blast into the power strip? Aerith needs the extra boost to make sure the spell gets through." _It isn't raw electricity, but it is raw power. Isn't that what lightning really is, when it comes right down to it?_

"I can try." Kadaj bit his lip, his face screwing up in fierce concentration as he gathered power to himself, forced it into the orb embedded in his left forearm. Ever so slowly, an orb of cerulean radiance appeared in his flesh. It seemed as if time crawled while the glow increased, but at long last the blue fire lined Kadaj's hand and, with a quick gesture, was thrown into the strip of electrical outlets the television and DVD player were plugged into.

There was a bright spark, and then the familiar crawling lines and fuzzy gray screen appeared.

Laura held tight to her husband's hand as the flash enveloped their beings, copying them and transporting them across the aether into another universe, another world, another life.

_We're coming, Livia. We're coming. _

LKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLK

"Laura! Wake up, Laura! C'mon, wake up!"

Kadaj's familiar, worried voice pierced the dark haze that encompassed her. Blinking open her eyes, Laura saw that he was kneeling behind her, resting her head on his lap. It was sunset, so at least this time she didn't have the sun shining directly into her eyes.

_Thank God for the small things... Now where's Livia?_

"If you want to find your daughter, think for a moment. Where are the final Jenova cells stored? The very last ones," a new male voice said sarcastically.

_That voice... It couldn't be! _

Laura sat up and turned her head to the side, where Kadaj was already looking. There was nobody there.

"Over here."

When they turned their heads again, they saw a tall man in dark canvas pants and a purple sleeveless top leaning against a nearby rock-pile, watching them. With his long, spiky black hair and glowing violet eyes, along with the huge sword on his back, there was no doubt as to his identity.

_But that's impossible! He's dead!_

_Maybe he's in visitation, like he was at the end of _Advent Children.

_But his voice sounds normal, not that echo-ey thing he and Aerith had during the movie, and my visits to that place. Could he possibly be..._

_Alive?_

"Zack?" she asked, fighting to keep a stutter out of her voice. He nodded with a lopsided grin. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in the Lifestream?"

"Well, the Planet decided you and Kadaj might need a little help. So while Aerith stays in the 'stream to watch over everything, we got brought back to life until you two and your daughter are safe and sound back on Earth." Zack grinned again. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"I guess so... Wait. What did you mean by 'we?'" Kadaj asked. Laura looked at him, slightly surprised.

_Why isn't he reacting adversely to Zack? _

_Forgetting something, dummy? He met him before, when he fell into the Lifestream. _

"I was sent back for two reasons," Zack explained. "First, to help you. Second, to take care of these two. They refused to come back without either Mother - that's Aerith - or me, their Father."

"You don't mean..."

In answer, Zack stepped aside, allowing Kadaj and Laura the chance to see yellow-green eyes shining in the shadows.

_Oh my God..._


	33. Is Everybody Resurrected or is it Me?

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor:** Haven't any of you figured out who else has been returned to life? (puts hands on hips, looks stern) Now think for a minute. Yellow-green eyes, supposed to be dead, known to both Laura and Kadaj... THINK, PEOPLE!!! Oh well. I'll spell it out in this chapter anyway. Ok. I know it's been a bit since I updated. I keep getting side-tracked by "Evidence of Sephiroth's Humanity;" me being a review whore, that's my baby. Just take a look at it. You'll see exactly what I mean. Well, Kadaj has been bugging me to get back to this fic too, so here's the next chapter. Oh, and welcome to the new readers/reviewers! Glad to see that someone appreciates this fic!

Does Everybody Get Resurrected or Is It Just Me?

Kadaj took a step forward, his gait revealing how far into disbelief his mind was currently embroiled. "Yazoo? Loz? Is that really you?"

The eyes flinched back for a moment, then crept forward once reassured by Zack's presence. Gradually, the bodies connected to the eyes came into view.

It was indeed the two remaining Remnants.

"Brothers!" Kadaj started forward, but immediately stopped when the two silver-haired men latched onto Zack's arms, their eyes wide and frightened. They still hadn't said anything or made a single noise.

_What's the matter with them? They're acting like..._

_Scared...little...children..._

"This is what Aerith meant, isn't it?" Laura moved up beside her husband, watching the trio to gauge their reactions. "About Jenova destroying them?"

Yazoo and Loz flinched again, then hid their faces against Zack's body when she mentioned Jenova, their arms wrapped tightly around him for comfort. The black-haired man sighed, and returned the hug Loz (he was in the front; Yazoo was behind him) was giving him. "Yeah. She pretty much destroyed their minds, their confidence. They're still powerful fighters, more than capable of helping you find Brian and Livia, but their minds are stuck in this child-like state for now. They don't talk very much anymore." He rubbed the big Remnant's back soothingly. "Just don't mention the J word around them. She terrifies them now."

"Do they remember?" Kadaj asked. Laura saw a mix of anger and nerves in his eyes. _Well, he has a right to be angry. Jenova has made mincemeat of his brothers' minds!_

"You mean do they remember you?" Kadaj nodded. "Yeah, they do. And Laura too. But they're too shy to come up to you right now."

"Too shy?"

"Give them some time, Kadaj." Laura stroked the back of his neck and ran her fingers up the back of his scalp, a gesture that always seemed to soothe him. "They'll come around. This is as much a shock to them as it is to you."

_They just need a little time. Time to heal. _

Just as she lowered her hand, Yazoo stepped around Zack, peeking at the couple from beneath his long hair. Silently, not making a sound, he approached his brother and his wife. Laura, Zack, and Kadaj all held their breath, waiting for his reaction. Loz remained quiet, watching them with his arms around the ex-SOLDIER's waist.

Yazoo looked at Kadaj for a long moment, then was suddenly embracing him, his face buried against his hair and neck, his shoulders bobbing in the unmistakable motion of silent crying. Kadaj was stunned by his brother's quick actions, but then put his arms around him, comforting him. Laura merely watched, feeling like some kind of intruder. _Jenova... What have you wrought? Look at what you've done to him, to all of them, Sephiroth included! _

_If you try to corrupt my daughter, if you even _touch _her, I will make absolutely sure that _nothing_ remains of you for anyone to find. You hear me, bitch? You will be _gone. _Forever!_

Then her train of thought was cut off as more than two hundred pounds of muscle slammed into her, knocking her over and following her to the ground. It took her a moment to realize that Loz had barrelled into her and was currently hugging her for all he was worth, crying like a big baby. Laura felt her ribs creak, but she did not protest. Loz needed this as much as Yazoo did; obviously, he still remembered her and saw her as his 'sister,' just as both of the older Remnants had before their deaths.

It warmed her heart that at least one of them still saw her as a member of their 'family.'

"So. When you two manage to untangle yourselves, shall we mosey on to Shinra Manor?" Zack inquired.

_You know, that still sounds weird. I know Cloud says that in the game, but Zack? _

"Where do you think Spikey picked it up from?" the black-haired man asked with a grin. "He sure didn't come up with it himself!"

"So you can read minds now?" Laura queried, arching her brow.

"With my badass Lifestream powers."

Kadaj looked up from his brother's shoulder - he had managed shoot up in height over the past few years so that he was now two inches taller than Yazoo - and glared at Zack. "Do us all a favor, and stay out of our heads at night."

Zack's grin widened. "No problem, man. But I don't know if you'll have any time or opportunities for that, what with what we're trying to prevent and retrieve. Understand?"  
Laura and Kadaj nodded.

"Good. Now, if you don't mind..." He took a step back to and gestured behind him, to a black truck on the other side of the crevice. "Your chariot awaits."


	34. Something You Oughta Know

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie, DOC, and a burned copy of the original game at long last. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **Remember how Reeve said that they only found _some _files on Deepground, not all of them? Well, I'm taking that concept and running with it. And how did Zack acquire this knowledge here? You learn anything and everything when you're dead, that's how. This also explains exactly what Aerith was doing during the events of _Dirge of Cerberus_. I certainly do like OCs, don't I? Sorry, comes with being a fantasy author. Oh, and anybody who has played FFVII should know who 'Failed Specimen' is! The refernce to the Wutaians and the war is from my fic "I Knew Him Before."

Something You Oughta Know

Byran inwardly crowed with victory as he came out of the teleportation portal, still holding tightly to Olivia. He was on Gaia! He had survived the trip! And Livia was still alive, too; she was struggling against him as he took in his surroundings.

They had landed on a flat, grassy plain in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing but a sea of grass to the north, the south, and the east, and a range of mountains loomed dark and distant to the west, so small against the horizon. He didn't know where they were or how far to the nearest town, but he didn't care. Events had been set in motion. When they were over, Ken would be dead and Laura would be his.

"Lemme go!" Livia fought to get away, terrified of him. Bryan knew it; he savored her fear like a sweet, rare delicacy.

_Intoxicating, is it not? Knowing that you have total power over something else, something that could tear you apart under different circumstances? It is the ultimate drug, having absolute control over something so powerful, so dangerous. _

"I agree. _Totally._" He was stronger than the seven-year-old; he could control her easily. "So where are we supposed to go?"

_A small mountain hamlet called Nibelheim, located in the mountains you observe before you. I have already arranged for transportation; they should be arriving momentarily. _A whirring noise reached Bryan's ears, a sound that reminded him of a helicopter's rotating blades. _Here they are._

Livia stopped struggling as a helicopter appeared in the sky above, her gaze fixed on the unexpected sight. It hovered briefly, the gun mounted on the front swiveling to point away from them, then dropped. It settled about fifteen feet away from them, and the door on their side opened. Four men got out and flanked the opening, their guns pointing skywards towards the rotating blades. They were an impressive sight, utterly motionless and silent in their charcoal-black bodysuits, the bright blue phosphorus striping the front and sides providing the hint of luminescence. Bryan couldn't get a glimpse of their faces through the helmets they wore.

As impressive and intimidating as the gunmen were, they were nothing compared to the woman that followed. She was tall and nearly identical to a woman of woman of Japanese or Chinese descent, with long black hair blowing wildly in the wind from the chopper's blades, the purple highlights lining the strands practically glowing from the lights on her companions' uniforms. She was dressed in a kimono of black and deep violet silk, cut short at the legs to allow freedom of movement. The wide sleeves characteristic of the garment had been reduced to only one; the seam where the left sleeve should have hung was ripped and frayed, suggesting that it had been torn clean off. There was a pair of sickle-swords strapped to her back, and three long daggers in a leather garter on her left thigh. Lean and perfectly sculpted, the woman moved with the lethal grace of a hunting cat, the lazy sensuality of a predator. Her eyes glowed with an eerie purple light as she approached.

"So you must be the ones Weiss told us to find," she purred, her voice as the musical notes of a flute played alto. "You are Bryan Hanover and Olivia Kerrington, correct?"

Bryan nodded. "We are. And you?"

"I am Azami the Royal of the Tsviets, one of Deepground's most elite fighters." She smiled coldly, a quick flash of pristine white teeth between plump ruby lips. "I hope you shall cooperate with us as we travel to Nibelheim. I would hate to have to punish you or the child for a mis-step."

_Be sure to obey her every command, boy._ Hojo's voice had a smug tone to it that rankled, but Bryan knew he was right. This woman could kill him with one swat. _She is of a level of power comparable to that of Specimen 15 or the Failed Specimen. Fully capable of dismembering you at a moment's notice if you have second thoughts._

Bryan smirked. _Second thoughts, when I am so close to getting Laura? Never!_

Azami bent over, her purple eyes examining Livia closely. The little girl stood defiant, but Bryan could feel a fine tremble quivering along her body. This exquisite female was unnerving her, badly. "So. You are the one destined to receive the last of the J cells, as Weiss foretold." She reached out and fingered some of Livia's silky silver hair, a malicious little smile twisting her heart-shaped mouth. "Hail Weiss."

The soldiers repeated her call, far louder and sharper than she had. "Hail Weiss!"

Still rubbing the hair between her fingers, Azami looked into the girl's sapphire eyes. Her own orbs flashed a brighter purple, and Livia gasped, then went limp in Bryan's grasp, sagging towards the ground before he yanked her back upright. She stared straight ahead with glazed, unseeing eyes, unresponsive to the shake he gave her.

"Yes. I can see him inside her, primed and ready for his resurrection. All he needs are the J cells to act as the catalyst." Azami stood up, yanking the lock of hair off Livia's head with a quick, forceful jerk.

Livia never even flinched.

"Come, child. Let us go to Nibelheim. There, we shall give you your Reunion with fresh blood and ancient power." She tossed the strands of bloody hair away with a careless gesture and held out her hand. To Bryan's amazement, Livia walked stiffly forward and took Azami's hand, following her into the chopper without a peep. He followed, and the gunmen got in behind them.

"What did you do to her?" he inquired, settling across from Azami and Livia.

The Eastern woman smirked and pulled the girl onto her lap, smoothing some hair away from her unblinking eyes.

"Made her a bit more cooperative and manageable, that's all. It will not last forever, so do not worry. She will only be like this until we reach Nibelheim."

LKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKKLKLKLKLKLKLK

"There are some things you will need to know about what's going to happen." Zack steered the truck through the twisting, winding road through the canyon. "I know that you already know a lot of what's going to happen from that _Dirge of Cerberus _game, but there's a few things that the game can't tell you."

"Like what?" Laura asked, polishing her shotgun with a piece of soft cloth.

"Like the sixth member of the Tsviets."

_...The sixth Tsviet? What? Reeve said there were only five!_

"Some things don't translate from reality to game, and vice versa. This Tsviet is one of them, because she isn't directly involved with Omega."

"So tell us about her. What does she have to do with us?" Kadaj didn't look up from picking at a stray thread in his bodysuit.

"Her name is Azami Kiryu, or rather, it used to be. She was one of the Wutaian young people given to Shinra for training and subsequent military service in exchange for peace after the war. I don't know the specifics, but somehow she caught Scarlet's attention when she reached Second Class SOLDIER. Scarlet had her entered into the Deepground program, and she was erased from most of Shinra's databases. Her family in Wutai was told that she had died in a terrible accident, and that the remains were unretrievable. To the rest of the world, just like Weiss, Rosso, and all the others, Azami was dead."

_Why am I not surprised? _

"Quiet, Laura. Let me finish."

_...Shutting up._

"Azami had more shit done to her head than the rest of the Tsviets. So in addition to her fighting skills - skills worthy of a First Class, I will admit - she's got some really unique abilities that would keep Weiss under control, if she were so inclined to turn against him. Mind blasts, thought-reading, mind control, telekinetic powers, and latent energy control. Definitely someone you'd want to keep on your side, no matter what the cost. Like all the Tsviets, Azami received an assigned color and surname when she proved herself worthy of their ranks. She is now known as Azami the Royal, her color being purple and all. It'd be more accurate to call her 'Azami the Heartless;' only Rosso the Crimson comes close to her in terms of sheer ruthlessness and lack of humanity. Azami likes carnage and pain; she's very good at torture both mental and physical. You could even say that she gets turned on by it; seeing someone else in excruciating pain seems to act like some kind of sick aphrodisiac to her. I hear she actually raped a few of her victims when she led the attack on Junon.

"The really bad news here is that the reason she isn't in the game is because she's the Tsviet Weiss put in charge of Sephiroth's resurrection."

Kadaj and Laura both froze. A monster like that in charge of their precious baby girl...

"That's why we have to hurry, and why me and the other two were sent back. While Aerith does everything she can to make the Planet not accept the sacrifices Deepground is feeding it, we're supposed to prevent Sephiroth from going on another rampage. Kill both threats, basically."

"But what if we're too late?" Laura demanded. "What if Livia merges with Jenova's cells before we can get there?"

"Start praying that that doesn't happen," Zack replied grimly.

"Question: what exactly is latent energy control? Kadaj asked. _He's trying to calm me down, changing the subject like this. Knows me all-too-well, definitely. _

Zack seemed to know it too. _But then again, he can read my mind anyway, so... _"Well, it's actually pretty easy to explain. You see, everything is filled with latent energy. The stuff that makes up what everything is made out of, that's pure energy. It's pretty calm, normally; balanced out and everything. But when you tease that energy, tickle it, aggravate it, the result is a small, but extremely powerful, explosion."

"Like a bomb?"

"Yeah."

"And she can do this _at will_?" Kadaj asked, his voice rising slightly with every word.

"Not really. She has to concentrate on it, meaning she can only do it when she isn't in the center of the target's attention. It takes a few minutes to tease the energy up to the point where it'll explode. If she doesn't keep at it, the energy'll go back to its latent state."

"Can she do that to _people?_" Laura asked quietly, afraid of the answer.

"No, thank the Planet." Zack guided the truck carefully around an outcropping of rock, then took off at top speed the moment they were out of the canyon. "She can only do it to inanimate objects and materia."

_So she can't blow me or Kadaj or any of the others up. That's a bonus, at least. _

"But you'll still have to contend with her other abilities, along with her fighting skills," the ex-SOLDIER pointed out. "And she's damn formidable. Would give me or Seph a really hard time, if we weren't at full strength."

"If she's that strong, then why doesn't she turn against Weiss and lead Deepground herself?" Kadaj asked.

"Because she's indebted to him. Weiss personally released her from her cell, and even engaged in a relationship of sorts with her for a time, before they both were put into the Deepground program. They were fuck-buddies; seems that she still cares about him, kinda like Nero does. They're both so loyal to him, that he could do anything to them and they wouldn't turn on him. She and Nero are allies of a sort because of that; they both act as Weiss' bodyguards when he goes out around the rest of Deepground, even from the other Tsviets. His right and left hands, I guess you could call them."

"And you trust no-one more than you do your right hand," Kadaj muttered.

"So we'll have a big fight on our hands, to sum it up," Laura stated.

Zack kept his eyes on the road ahead. "Just keep thinking of your daughter, and each other. That'll give you all the strength you need.

"Worry and love for your friends and family is sometimes all that keeps you going when it comes down to the wire."

_And nobody knows that better than you, Zack. _

"Damn straight."


	35. Answers and Motivations

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **I'm actually tying three of my fics together in this chapter. This one, "Evidence of Sephiroth's Humanity," and "Return of the Green Sludge." Readers of all three will recognize it, but it you aren't and don't, might want to go read them. Or at least the chapters mentioned. Don't worry about the lack of action; this is just the calm before the storm. We'll be resuming the regularly-scheduled fic at hand once this chapter is out of the way. And I can never get the names of the materia holders right. Was it bangle or armlet? Aw, whatever. Enjoy, for next chapter the shit hits the fan!

Answers and Motivations

_Why did this have to happen? _

The thought kept crossing Laura's mind, refusing to let her get some sleep as the truck trundled ever close to Nibelheim. She shifted so her back was to the door and glanced out the back window; Kadaj had climbed into the back with his brothers after the last rest stop/bathroom break, and currently the three silver-haired men were sleeping in a big puppy-pile against the cab.

Zack was still driving. When Laura had asked him why he wasn't tired, he had told her that sleep deprivation was something SOLDIERs were trained to fight off while they were still cadets. Most could go for about a week on only three hours of sleep per day before fatigue started catching up with them. He was good to go for awhile longer, and Kadaj would drive once he woke up so Zack could catch his three hours.

Unable to sleep, the woman decided she could at least talk to him. Maybe it would help soothe her over-active mind. "Do either you or Aerith know why Bryan kidnapped our daughter?"

Zack shook his head. "We know why Hojo wants her, and why he forced a coexistence between himself and Bryan. You know why, too. But we don't know why he agreed to it." He glanced over at her. "We do know why you can't have children, Laura."

She sat up, surprised at the change of subject but hungry for information. "What? How? Why?"

"Like I said before, all answers come with death. I kinda figured you'd want to know, since you and Kadaj wanted kids so badly."

_Still do, even if I can't give them to him. _"So why can't I have children?"

"Because you had Olivia."

Laura cocked her head in puzzlement. That made no sense whatsoever. "What does that have to do with my uterus?"

Zack sighed. "Olivia has Jenova cells inside her, remember? They weren't injected into her like they were with Seph, but they're still there. The problem is, they didn't stay only in her. Blood gets exchanged between mother and child via the umbilical cord."

_You don't mean..._

"I do, unfortunately. There are Jenova cells inside you, Laura, because you carried Kadaj's daughter. There's not enough to affect your thought processes or to allow her to gain a foothold in your mind and soul, but they still affected you."

Laura was suddenly very cold, almost numb. "The cells...No..."

"Yes." Zack looked sad now. Tired. "They contaminated your uterus, making you incapable of carrying a child to full term. Only a child with Jenova cells already in it could survive. That's why Olivia was never aborted; she was already of Jenova's bloodline. The cells recognize and accept their own; if Kadaj still had his share of them and impregnated you now, you would have another baby."

"But he was cleansed..." _The roles were reversed! He's fully human now, but I'm the one with the cells inside me!_

"Exactly." The ex-SOLDIER looked at her. "I'm sorry, Laura."

_Don't be. This isn't your problem._

Zack laughed ruefully. "No, but I think I know how you feel. About losing kids you never even knew you had, that is. Did you know I have a daughter?"

Laura looked up at him, drawing her knees up against her chest and wrapping her arms around her thighs. "No, I didn't know you were a father. Who's the mother? Aerith?"

"I never said I was the father, Laura."

"But you just said..."

"I said I have a daughter. But I'm not the father." He looked downright sheepish right now, a faint blush creeping up the back of his neck and along his cheeks. "I'm actually the mother."

_What?!_

"Yeah, that was my reaction too." Zack chuckled. "When I was still in SOLDIER, I had this secretary, Kandi. She used to be a Honeybee girl, until I offered her a better job. Mostly so I could fuck her whenever I wanted."

_Quite the playa, Zack. _

"I know." He adjusted the rearview mirror. "Anyway, shortly before I met her, there was a mixup between the labs and the cafeteria. The end result was that this nasty green sludge got eaten by about half of Shinra's on-site workforce, including me and Sephiroth, and it turned us all into the opposite sex until Hojo fed us the antidote. Kandi loved kinky sex, so guess what she proposed to me after she heard about that?"

Laura's hands flew to her mouth, stifling a laugh. "She didn't!"

"She did. Long story short, she got me pregnant."

The mental image of Zack with a nine-month-bump was too much for her. Laura burst out laughing, leaning her head back against the window and howling with mirth until tears streamed from her eyes and her stomach hurt. Zack had stopped the truck to glare at her, and one look at his face had her in stitches all over again.

The ex-SOLDIER took his foot off the brake and got them back on their way. "I don't get no respect," he grumbled.

"Don't start acting like Jabberjaw! I hated that cartoon when I was little," Laura giggled, wiping a tear from her eye. "Sorry. You were saying?"

"Yeah." Zack changed gears as the road turned to mud; it had been raining hard here recently. "Anyway, this happened only about two weeks before the Nibelheim Incident. So, first of all, I had no clue that I was pregnant. Second of all, how would I have known? I am a man; men don't get pregnant.

"I was damned lucky my fight with Seph didn't kill her. Don't really know how she survived, but she did. Hojo was ecstatic when he found out. He experimented on me and Cloud, but I was basically spared the 'treatments' for nine months, kept comatose until my daughter was sliced out of me. I only found out about her when Angeal told me after I died."

Laura leaned forward and laid a hand on Zack's arm; she could see the sorrow in his eyes. He looked at her with a grateful smile, and continued with his story.

"Hojo sent her to the labs at Midgar, and she was put in the Deepground project. Experimented on like an animal, and trained for battle almost from the time she could walk. She's still down there, but she's remained hidden from the rest of Deepground since Weiss released them from their tanks and cells. That's part of why I was so willing to come back; I can't help Spike and the others with the main Deepground force, but if I can take out even one Tsviet, that'll be one less person who can hurt my little girl."

_We really aren't so different, after all. _

He nodded. "For our children, we'll do anything. Even kill, if it means protecting them."

"Bryan betrayed my trust and Kadaj's, and kidnapped our daughter. He's going to die the next time either of us see him, make no mistake about that," Laura said grimly.

"And Azami won't walk away from me alive." Zack gripped the steering wheel, his fingers sinking into the metal beneath the strength of his fury. "She's one of the ones that hurt my daughter. You and the others can take out whoever you want, but she dies by my blade."

Laura nodded and lifted one of her arms, tracing the faint white scars with her other hand. "I have enough scars, anyway. You can take out the bitch with the blades."

Zack chuckled. "You want scars, you should see some of mine. Seph gave me more than a few, and I have plenty from when my sparring partners or plug-ugly monsters got lucky."

She smiled, and returned her attention to the road ahead. "How long until we get to Nibelheim?"

"Only a few hours." He glanced over at her. "You should get some sleep, Laura. You'll need all your strength when we catch up with them."

"I know. I'm absolutely exhausted, but I just can't get to sleep." She had a sudden thought. "Do you have any materia that could put me to sleep?"

A grin spread across his face, and he slipped a hand into one of the pockets on his left pantleg. A moment later he pulled out a glowing green sphere. Laura made herself comfortable against the door and the seat while he popped it into place in his armlet. _Hm. Crystal Bangle. Nice. _

A moment later, a gentle, soothing wave of magic washed over her, and Laura willingly allowed it to overtake her and guide her into sleep.


	36. Connecting

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie, DOC, and a burned copy of the original game at long last. Now put the pitchforks and torches away. Song ain't mine, either. It's Within Temptation's.

**Queen's Quornor: **Nope. No comments from me this time. You'll just have to read it yourself to find out what happens!

Connecting

Shinra Manor remained a crumbling, decaying monstrosity of a dwelling-place. It frightened and tempted young children, and its hollow walls seemingly echoed the cries of so many tormented victims. A silent reminder of the terrifying experiments and dark tragedies that had once gone on beneath the very feet of the villagers, so many years ago.

It was to this lonely outpost of misery that Azami now led Olivia and Bryan. There was no fear of observation; Nibelheim had long since been harvested and cleansed. Nobody remained to witness their arrival.

The Deepground soldiers' boots clicked across the cobblestones as they approached the mansion, following the Tsviet and the entranced child wordlessly. Bryan trailed after them, curiously examining the empty buildings and the squeaking, loney windmill in the center of the village.

Nibelheim had become a ghost-town.

Azami kicked in the front door of the mansion nonchalantly, one hand already on her curved swords. Almost as if she expected something to attack them. Sure enough, a _thing_ came shooting out at them, a creature with a smiling jack-o-lantern head and serrated white blades for a body. It went straight for Livia, who stared dully ahead while death came fast.

The soldiers didn't have a chance to fire their weapons. Azami spun, there was a ring of metal, and then she was sliding her swords back into their sheaths, a tiny smirk playing about her full lips.

The creature simply fell apart in mid-air.

Bryan felt his eyes widen at the display. Yes, Azami was magnificent. Ken would never be able to stand up to her and live. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Laura would be his the moment they crossed blades.

"Come. We must go up in order to go down." Azami took Livia's hand once more, the little girl not protesting as she was led up the stairs.

Bryan followed their lead, smiling evilly at the mental image of the silver-haired pretender lying broken on the floor, drowning in a pool of his own blood.

_Soon, my love. Soon._

LKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLK

Tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, Laura looked at Yazoo and Loz as the truck bounced over the road. They were only a few miles from Nibelheim and Kadaj was currently at the wheel, driving while Zack took a nap in the passenger's seat. The resurrected clones had not said anything to her since she had climbed in the back. They merely watched her with unreadable yellow-green eyes, curled up together on the other side of the truckbed.

They hadn't said _anything_, actually. Even Kadaj had been unable to get a verbal response out of them. How much damage had Jenova wreaked upon their minds and hearts since Laura's death?

"Can you talk at all?" she asked, looking at them. Yazoo lowered his eyes and hid behind the curtain of his hair. Loz drew his knees up to his chest and rocked slightly, comforting himself.

_Jenova, you goddamn bitch!_ "Do you remember, the times we shared?" Laura inquired gently. "The weeks I spent with all of you were some of the best of my life."

She laughed as a fond memory pushed to the forefront. "Remember my first morning with you? The pudding war? I can't look at vanilla pudding without remembering it anymore."

The brothers perked up, watching her with interest now.

"You looked so funny with that stuff running down from your hair, Yazoo. Like a hair treatment gone horribly wrong. And you wre Pudding Man, Loz. I don't know how I managed to avoid getting hit with pudding for so long." She smiled. "It was even better afterwards, when we were all taking baths. I loved playing Truth or Dunk, and even though I'm married to your brother I have to admit, you both are fine male specimens."

Laura leaned back against the cab, gazing skyward. "There was never a dull moment around any of you. Remember some of the discussions we had? You and I spent an entire afternoon just listening to each other's cds, Loz. I would never have guessed that you and I had the same musical interests. You really loved Evanescence and Saliva, remember? Then there were the books you and I talked about, Yazoo. How many boring chores did we get through by telling each other about our favorite books and stories? I lost count."

She looked at them. Yazoo and Loz made no motion, no sound. They merely watched her.

_I wish I knew how to help you. You're family, the brothers I never had. But I don't know how to bring you back, the men you used to be._

With a sigh, the brunette leaned her head back. Unbidden, a song rose to her lips, and unconsciously she began to sing.

"Where are the heroes in my time of need? Is my cry not loud enough, or have they gone all numb? They just stand and stare, out of the rain, thinking but not acting that they're not to blame. Falling and crawling, a fight to stand up. Memory still haunts me in the dead of night. Over and over, I felt so small. But one day I'll be stronger, and you better watch out."

From the corner of her eye, Laura saw the brothers stir, listening to her with great interest. Remembering how her song had calmed Kadaj's nightmare, she began to sing with greater purpose. _Maybe..._

"I will overcome your violence their silence. Although, it can't be undone, I will overcome. Knowing that I'm not the only one, I will overcome. It's the only way to carry on. Where are the saviours afraid of the toll? Sorry, do my nine inch nails slash your soul? Such heroes throwing stones straight at the one who is standing alone. Twisting and turning, it's always the same. Truth is never honest when you're to blame.

As she sang, Loz scooted closer and closer, almost timidly. By the time she was on the second chorus, he had ducked beneath her arm and was leaning against her, his head pillowed on her breast and his hands latched firmly on her opposite hip.

Yazoo was slower to approach, creeping closer but yet remaining distant. _Does he remember the things Jenova made Kadaj make us do? Is that what's wrong?_

Laura continued singing, but held out her free hand to the long-haired clone. _I never blamed you, Yazoo. We were all at her mercy. We were all her prisoners._

""Pushing and pulling, never give in. One day I wish you'll see you're not so beautiful within. I will overcome your violence, your silence. Although, it can't be undone. I will overcome, knowing that I'm not the only one. I will overcome.  
It's the only way to carry on."

After gazing at her hand for a long moment, Yazoo finally crept forward and curled up beside her, resting his head on her lap in the manner of a child. Laura ran her fingers through his hair soothingly while she finished the song.

"Run and run. Run and run. I will overcome their violence, your silence. Although, it can't be undone. I will overcome, knowing that I'm not the only one. I will overcome. It's the only way to carry on. I will overcome."

As the final notes faded into the wind, she felt hot warmth soaking into her chest and thigh.

_They're crying..._

_Brothers..._

Laura had no words of comfort to offer in the face of their tears. So, she merely kissed both their heads and held them close, praying they understood that, despite the things they had done under Jenova's influence, she still loved them.

_I'll help you find yourselves. Somehow, I will. _

_I promise._

LKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLKLK

"Here it is." Azami smirked victoriously as she opened a false door in the stone-and-mortar wall. "The last of the J cells are below us. I can sense their power."

_She is indeed a magnificent specimen, a triumph of science! _Hojo crowed victoriously in Bryan's head._ I only knew the cells were here because I have watched over them all these years. She sensed them almost immediately! A pity that her powers will be lost when my experiment has concluded, but I should be able to access them through Omega, once it has awoken. _

The four soldiers went through the doorway first, trotting down the stairs with guns at the ready. Azami remained behind with Livia and Bryan, only descending when it became clear that the wooden planks would support their weight.

"My lady," Bryan ventured, unsure of how to address her. "Can I ask you something?"

"You may," she granted with a graceful nod of her head.

"What exactly _are_ J cells? I've heard you speak of them several times, but I don't know what they are or what they do."

The Tsviet snorted and tossed her long black hair. "Who has _not _heard of the cells' originator? Even in Deepground, her name is legendary. You must have lived further underground than I, to have never heard of the Dark Harbinger.

"Jenova is her proper name, and she is this child's grand matriarch." Azami jerked on Livia's arm in emphasis. "A source of power equal to that of Omega, enough strength to destroy this planet if given the resources and opportunity. To have seen her unleashed, when first she arrived on this miserable spit of rock..." The purple eyes closed, and a wicked smile spread across her lips. "It would have been _magnificent. _Unfortunately, the Ancients sealed her in a stone tomb, where she entered a sort of catatonic stasis to wait out the eons until her discovery at the hands of Shinra. Their scientists mined her for her cells, used them to strengthen thousands of men and women to create SOLDIERs. The cells below are the only parts of her that remain, as Shinra had her body destroyed after their power was broken."

"Why do you want to use them on Livia?" Bryan inquired, following the Tsviet into a hewn stone corridor.

"Because Weiss desires that she receive the cells, the the prisoner within her body be awakened from his long sleep. And what the Emperor desires, we do. It is not a difficult process to grasp." Azami lifted her head, her eyes glowing for a brief moment. "Enough questions. Come, child. The cells are straight ahead." She ran her long nails through Livia's silver hair, a sinister smirk twisting her lovely visage. "Your true self will taste freedom once more soon. Very soon."


	37. The Nightmare Returns

**Summary: **Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie, DOC, and a burned copy of the original game at long last. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

**Queen's Quornor: **It's been a damn long time since I updated this, I know. I've been repeatedly trying to write the next chapter, but for some reason the inspiration always died shortly after I got the first few sentences down. I've had a couple of people ask me to continue, and it is to them whom I dedicate this chapter. Apparently, it took a school trip abroad to Germany, a sick room-mate, and me hiding in the bathroom while she slept to avoid waking her for me to get this written down at long last.

The Nightmare Returns

Livia sat listless on the rotting table, her eyes staring dully at the books yellowing on the shelves. Bryan kept flicking his gaze between her and Azami, who was filling a syringe with the glowing contents of a small vial she had uncovered. The purple substance unnerved him; it reminded him strongly of old B-movie alien abduction scenes.

"So this stuff is supposed to do...what?" he asked.

Azami paid him no heed, but Hojo took the question. _It will release Sephiroth from hibernation, and he will emerge from her body. _

_So she's going to give birth to this guy? _Bryan wondered, picturing the silver-haired seven year old having a baby right there on the table.

Hojo responded with a flash of pain. _No! He'll possess her, boy!_

"Oh."

"Quiet." Azami dropped the empty vial and squeezed the excess air out of the syringe, flicking the sides to ensure all the bubbles were out. "With this rebirth, Weiss's plans are complete. Interfere and die."

Bryan surpressed the urge to roll his eyes and watched the tall woman stride over to Livia and take her limp arm in her hand. Azami pressed the needle into her skin and thumbed the plunger.

The moment she pulled the empty syringe out, awareness flooded back into Livia's sapphire eyes. She stared at Azami and Bryan, terrified, then shuddered and hugged herself tightly.

"Assimilation is alwways painful." Azami's plump red lips pulled back in a smirk that sent chills down Bryan's spine. "I want to watch your agony, child."

_She is a triumph indeed! _Hojo crowed.

Livia's first scream chilled Bryan to the core. She folded herself in two with her arms wrapped around her stomach, shrieking into her knees. Black wisps rose from her arm and quickly spread, coiling about her body and tightening like chains. She screamed and cried, sobbing for her parents and begging Bryan to make the pain stop. Bryan kept his distance, unwilling to tempt Azami's wrath by trying to comfort the tormented child. Besides, what did he owe her? Laura could always give him a child of his own. Azami merely watched, her violet eyes blazing with sadistic joy.

Livia's spine cracked as a series of violent convulsions wracked her small frame. She arched into a perfect curve and slammed onto the table, writhing, her voice rising into an unearthly keen.

The misty tendrils sank into her flesh and she abruptly stopped fighting. Livia slowly, deliberately, sat up and rested her hands on her knees. She raised her face to look at her captors, and her clear blue eyes flashed, the color morphing into a bright yellow-green shade. Her pupils also changed, becoming the elliptical slits of a hunting cat. Her lips twitched, the corners curved into a sly, wicked smirk that Bryan had never seen her use.

Then Livia was gone.

In her place sat a tall, pale man who sported the eerie, predatory eyes. His molten silver hair spilled across the table and over the edge in a shining fall. Clad in supple black leather, his broad shoulders capped by gleaming pauldrons, he gazed upon his liberators with quiet amusement.

Bryan felt his jaw go slack. He had seen the movie. He knew a little of the story. He knew where he was, knew the identity of the scentist cackling in his skull. But seeing this man, the villain of the computer animated film that had brought him here, was enough to make the impossibility of the situation sink in. Fantasy had become a terrifying reality.

Azami inclined her head towards the newcomer, a graceful show of respect. "It is an honor to finally meet you, Sephiroth."

"So I'm told." He rose from the table and looked upon Azami coolly. "Your name?"

"Azami the Royal, of the Tsviets." She dipped her head again. "I was sent by Weiss the Immaculate, Emperor of Deepground, to free you from your long slumber."

"To what end?"

"To destroy Weiss's enemies, cull the tainted, and help us awaken Omega." Azami flashed him a wicked grin. "The armies of the WRO are weak, but they are plentiful, and they have powerful allies. Once the cattle are slaughtered and the vermin crushed, we can all join with Omega and find our new beginning, far from thie miserable spit of rock!"

Hojo laughed. _She is skilled, if she can read Sephiroth's mind. Not even I would dare such a thing!_

Bryan shook his head, wishing the scientist would stop laughing so much, and suddenly became aware of eyes resting on him. Sephiroth had turned his attention from Azami to him, and Bryan felt an inexplicable chill as the peridot orbs pierced him.

"Bryan Hanover." The name was spoken with care, as if the silver-haired man was tasting it. "You brought me here."

"I brought Livia. I didn't know you were inside her. I just did what I was told." Bryan started to say that Hojo hadn't told him exactly why Livia was needed, but a sudden twinge from the depths of his skull choked the sentence off in his throat.

_Don't say a word about me!_ Hojo hissed. _He will kill you if you so much as hint it! And where will your poor beloved be, if you can't save her from your rival?_

Sephiroth was still looking at him, and Azami too. Bryan thought of the first name that he could, and a story to accompany it, hoping the lethal woman wouldn't dig deeper.

To his relief, she smiled. "Ah... So Weiss was able to reach across the cosmos and contact you. Are you an envoy from our new world?"

He shrugged, relieved that she had fallen for it. "Potential, I guess."

"Yes... You are not from this world." Azami tapped her chin and smirked again. "Hail Weiss. He has already scouted a place for Omega to land." She twisted and strode a few paces away, chuckling low.

Sephiroth continued to stare, and Bryan returned his gaze, masking his fear with sheer defiance. The silver-haired man snorted and finally turned away. "Just another puppet. Very well; I should at least have a look at the one pulling your strings."

As Sephiroth turned away, Bryan slowly let out his breath. Inside his head, Hojo hummed thoughtfully.

_So her telepathic abilities are limited to surface thought? Very interesting... I did not have much time to study her before my precious specimens here in Nibelheim consumned my time. Perhaps I will be able to catalogue her abilities and limits before my experiment begins in full._

_What if we don't get into any fights? _Bryan thought, watching the deadly pair as they discussed something by the broken glass tanks against the wall.

He could feel Hojo's scorn already. _Of course there will be fights. Gaia is far more dangerous than your puny Earth. Here, we have monsters. _I _am perfectly safe, of course, but you are at a severe risk._

Bryan rolled his eyes. _If I die, you lose your second body. Not so safe, is it? _Hojo said nothing, but Bryan swore he felt him grinding his nonexistent teeth. Encouraged, he continued. _Besides, I'm not at risk. With those soldiers out there and these two in here, what monster can touch me?_

_Are you so sure you can trust them? _the scientist slyly asked. _You are a liability to them, untrained in combat and futhermore unarmed. The girl has been possessed and molded, so you are no longer needed as her keeper. They could easily kill you for being a useless limpet. _

Bryan scowled. _They need me. _

_Why do you think that?_

_Because I can get Sephiroth his mother. If all this shit's true, then Laura has these J-cells too. She could be his mom, reborn. And I have you stuck in my head, so that would make me his father. These silver-haired freaks are really big on family, right?_

Hojo simply laughed.

* * *

"So this is Nibelheim?"

"Yep. Deepground's already gotten to it." Zack ignored the silent village, a stony look on his face. "These were all Shinra employees and their kids, but even isolated in the mountains they weren't safe. Nobody's safe."

"They're here someplace." Kadaj stood with one hand on Souba, the other on Loz's shoulder. Laura mirrored his posture, though her hand rubbed soothing circles along Yazoo's back. "The manor?"

"Seems most likely." Zack nodded at the path that led past the empty inn and a small house. _Cloud's old house, and Tifa's right beside it. They're smaller than I thought they'd be. _"Shall we?"

Laura gripped one of her guns tight. _Lead on, Fearless Leader._

Zack flashed a grin at her and began plodding towards the path. Kadaj exchanged a nod with his wife and they followed, Yazoo and Loz close behind.

_Bryan's going to be here, with that Tsviet and our daughter. Maybe some back-up. _Laura licked her lips. _God, please don't let them find those cells!_

Zack stopped the moment the decaying wrought-iron gate came into view. Kadaj and his brothers likewise halted, their eyes going wide. Laura faltered, feeling an alien sensation jolt through her body, bringing her skin alive in a wash of goosebumps. _Something's... calling me..._

"Fuck..." The ex-SOLDIER growled and his eyes blazed with the glow of mako. "He's awake."

"We're clean! How is he calling us?" Kadaj demanded. Yazoo and Loz whimpered, clinging to their younger brother and digging clawed fingers into their hair.

_Sephiroth's awake?_

_No! Livia!_

Laura lurched at the half-open gates, but Zack caught her and held her back. "Wait, Laura! Calm down!"

"Like hell I will! They've got my baby!"

"Get her inside!" Kadaj commanded, ushering his terrified brothers back to Cloud's house. "We need to think!"

Zack nodded and tucked Laura beneath his arm, ignoring her flailing limbs as he jogged away from the manor.

_You fucking bastard! Put me down! That's my daughter he's got! _She tried to nail him in the groin, but Zack warded off her fists without so much as breaking stride.

"That's dirty fighting; save it for Bryan!" he growled.

Kadaj held the door open for them and slammed it shut the moment they were inside. Lauara continued to fight as her eyes filled and the lock clicked. Zack quickly passed her to her husband, who pinned her arms in a tight embrace.

"He doesn't know we're here yet. That was just his cells resonating with ours." Zack went to a window and gazed through the lacy curtain, assessing the manor.

"It's a holdover from the Reunion. We always felt his presence, knew where he was by how strong the feeling got. That's how we avoided him and the other clones three years ago, all the ones that weren't grown from his genetic material."

Laura stilled. "What? You mean those clones in the black cloaks weren't you guys?"

"Those were the people who survived the Nibelheim Incident, Laura. People like me and Cloud." Zack put his back to the window and went to the mute brothers. Yazoo wrapped his arms around him and buried his face in his chest. Loz sniffed back tears and held the ex-SOLDIER from behind. "Those clones were injected with S-cells, not created from them and infused with J-cells."

"Can he sense us?" Kadaj asked.

Zack shook his head. "Smaller concentrations of the cells are driven to seek the original source; that's how the clones always knew where to find him. But he can't do that, since he's the source."

"So we can sneak up on him!" Laura struggled, prompting Kadaj to hold her tighter. He turned an agonized expression on her.

"Remember the movie, Laura?"

She was confused, but sighed at his urgent look. _Okay... Kadaj got Jenova's head, motorcycle fight, blah blah blah, big explosion, bikes in the church, everything got wet, big fight, Mr. Showoff, Materia, Sexist, Shut your mouth, Cloud is Cloud, Kadaj plus cells equals a Midgar home run, dramatic dark sky, characteristic theme song, new Omnislash..._

Laura's eyes went wide. "No..."

Kadaj hid his face against her hair. "It's her body, Laura. Not his."

She twisted to give Zack a frantic, pleading look. "Isn't there something we can do? _Anything?_"

"Cleanse her. The reason the Nibelheim clones failed is that they didn't receive any J-cells. Without those cells' inherent ability to mimic and duplicate the information contained by other genetic codes, the S-cells had nothing to latch onto and fully transmit his abilities and will. Cloud wasn't infused with enough S-cells to balance the J-cells, so when my blood got into some cuts he got during our escape, he was able to learn all of my abilities instead. Getting rid of the J-cells meant he couldn't be controlled and led on the cellular level anymore, same with you three." Zack indicated the three brothers with a quick nod. "If Livia's body is cleansed, he'll have nothing to hold onto and will have to get out."

"So how do we cleanse her?" Kadaj asked in a thick voice.

_We don't have to haul him all the way to Aerith's church, do we? There's no way we can hogtie that man!_

"Aerith sent her Great Gospel wherever it was needed. There were a lot of Geostigma cases here in Nibelheim. A lot of the rain got into the water supply, and since most of the Shinra people didn't use the local well..."

"How do we get him outside?"

"We'll have to draw them all out first, then take out Bryan and Azami, along with any back-up she brought." Zack thought for a moment. "We'll have to wear him down, and keep him from getting into the other fights. I can take Azami, but not both her and him."

"I'll distract him," Kadaj volunteered.

"No." Lauara squeezed him tight. "I'm not losing you again."

"Laura, I'm the best swordfighter here!" he argued. "I'm one of his clones. If anybody can keep him busy, it's me."

"He's got a point," Zack admitted.

"You've seen me fight. You know what I can do. I'm even better without that bitch controlling me." He gently coaxed her face out of his shoulder and cupped her chin. _Don't play the romantic card on me now! That's not fair! You know I can't resist when you do that! _"Let me do this, Laura. I'm the only one who can."

"Cheater," she grumbled as she released him. Turning away from her husband, Laura considered the other two silver-haired men. "Are you okay to fight?"

Zack didn't answer for them this time. Loz let go of him and punched one fist into his open palm, and Yazoo stroked his fingers over the guns gleaming at his sides. _I'll take that as a "yes"._

"So how do we get them out into the open?" Laura asked aloud.

Zack's teeth gleamed. "We raise hell."


End file.
